Does Delta 8 Get You High?: Testing out Delta 8 THC with Delta Munchies

Delta-8 THC has been the talk of the town in the cannabis community and here’s why. It’s a cannabinoid that can get you high just like the iconic Delta-9 THC, but with a more tolerable and functional experience. Delta-8 THC, in small traces, is found in cannabis and is often converted from compounds like CBD and hemp. Now here’s the fun part, since Delta-8 THC can be made from hemp, it’s currently floating in a legal loophole/grey area thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill states that cannabis that is naturally derived from 100% hemp and consists of less that 0.3% Delta-9 THC is considered federally legal.

Naturally a team of chemists took advantage of this and began converting hemp into concentrated forms of Delta-8 THC. Although it’s reported that the high of Delta-8 is around 60% to 70% potency that of its older brother Delta-9 THC, people still seem to be curious about it. Interestingly enough, that curiosity stems from the fact that Delta-8 is less intense and much more of an approachable experience than the high you feel when consuming cannabis with Delta-9 in it.

Typically the fun and enjoyable part of traditional Delta-9 edibles is the high of it all; music sounds better, food tastes incredible, and your boring roommate is all of a sudden the funniest person in the world. However with edibles there’s always a thin red line between fun and catastrophe, once crossed there’s no going back. One moment you’re having the time of your life, the next your rear is locked into the couch and you can’t get up because you’re trapped in a pit of despair called anxiety. This is where Delta-8 THC comes into play. With the help of our friends over at Delta Munchies I had the pleasure of finding out if Delta-8 THC really comes with the benefits of Delta-9 THC like enhanced appetite, relaxation/calmness, pain relief, anti-insomnia, and feelings of euphoria, without all the crippling anxiety and laziness. But the most important question I found out was:

Does Delta-8 THC get you high?

Before I share my experience, I should mention my actual experience with THC, that way we have a relative measurement for the potency of the actual high. Although I do miss my college days of smoking 4-5 joints a day and a bong rip here and there, nowadays I’d consider myself a recreational user who smokes about 4-6 times a week. I’d also consider my tolerance to be around average and nothing like a snoop or wiz khalifa omnipotence level type of tolerance.

To get this experiment underway the team at Delta Munchies was kind enough to give me a liberal amount of samples with a dosage range of 10mg, 20mg, and 30mg gummies. On their website they’re labeled under light, medium, and heavy potencies. Among their four edible flavors, they graced me with their iconic gummy peach rings. I decided to conduct this experiment at home over the course of 3 nights, one night for each dose and each dose consumed around 8pm. This way, with the suggested kick in time of around 3-4 hours, I could have a sober start 2 hours after dinner to see how it affected me before bed time and how it would carry over into the morning. (Read more on What is Delta-8 and its benefits)

Here’s my experience.

NOTE: The following experience is a single human experiment, it is not considered an actual
scientific experiment. Experiences with cannabis and THC all vary from user to user with the
frequency and amount of consumption. Results may vary.

10mg dose experience

I ate this first dose a little earlier than expected, at 7:45pm, and the first thing I noticed was how great the peach rings tasted. Maybe because I haven’t had a peach ring in a long time but also the taste was mouthwatering and nostalgic. The bag could have been demolished in one sitting, but remembering these peach rings are “special”, I exercised some self control; because you know, no one wants to end up on Mars with no air with Elon Musk.

Around 8:45 is when the gummies really began to take effect. It felt like a light body high that made me feel really relaxed but also wanting a little more. Almost like when you’re in a big rotation of people with a small joint; you might only get 2 or 3 hits that didn’t take you where you wanted to go. Even though it left me wanting, I was pleasantly surprised because in truth I didn’t expect to get high at all. I thought it was going to be a CBD type situation where I’d never get my feet off the ground. It made me believe that Delta-8 could be as advertised: A cannabis product that gets you high for users with lower tolerances. It felt like THC but a little more mellow, think of it as a “bud light”.

Around midnight I was on my computer, in the rabbit hole we call youtube, and had noticed the high had worn off. But couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it wore off, it was the smoothest transition out of a high i’ve ever experienced. There were no munchies, no sleepiness, no grogginess and in the morning I woke up feeling fresh as if an edible never entered my system. I’d rate this high a 5 out of 10

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20mg dose experience

Now where the 10mg could be considered underwhelming for me, the 20mg experiment was definitely the sweet spot. I took a 20mg peach ring at 8pm and to my delight the effects kicked in a little earlier than the day before, about 45 minutes in. First thing I noticed was this really incredible body high, it felt euphoric but my head space was clear. It was like smoking a blunt of indica without the mental haze and fog.

Around 9:30pm is when my good ol friend “Munchies” came knocking on the door of my stomach. So I put on some Al Green, turned on the burner and started to fry a couple eggs because breakfast for dinner, why not? A few minutes in I realized I was doing something I’ve never done before, cooking when I’m high. Distinctively, when stoned I’m way too sluggish to be cooking, especially when a bag of chips would more than suffice. But it felt energizing. Not energizing to the point where I could go run a mile or conquer the world, because that’s just doing way too much. But energizing in the sense where being the master chef of my own hell’s kitchen was no big deal.

That said, I mentally didn’t feel bogged down by any anxious thoughts of our social and political climate. I wasn’t bombarded by “cringe attacks” of humiliation recollections of my past mistakes. No haunting thoughts of ex-girlfriends came running through my head. I just felt blissful and euphoric.

Around 11pm the high flew me over to the bedroom and I laid down in complete comfort and slowly fell asleep. I did feel a little groggy when I woke up but I wasn’t sure if it was the Delta-8 or just the typical morning daze. My experience with the 20mg gummy would be a solid 8 out of 10. It was a fun and relaxing high, everything you would want out of an edible.

30mg dose experience

The only time stamp I can give you for the 30mg gummy is 8pm when I took it. Because once the gummy kicked in it was like Newton’s first law of physics was in full effect, “if a body is at rest, you bet your ass it will remain at rest”. This is one of those highs that graduates you from the Ivy Leagues to the Highvy Leagues, top of the class too. Essentially entering a “too high to function” state of high. I felt overly relaxed to the point where it felt like I was walking on the surface of Jupiter. Just completely High out in space and weighed down by the weight of its world. After that I remember stumbling into bed to sleep it off and the next thing I know it’s a couple hours later and there’s a paper towel bibbed into my shirt collar with Flaming Hot Cheeto stains all over.

The biggest take away from the 30mg gummy would be the fact that my over consumption of Delta-8 THC only required a sleep off rather than an existential crisis or panic. I wish I could rate this one but I don’t think I can for the sheer fact that all it did was knock me out. By the time the sun came up I felt extremely groggy and slightly disoriented. The 30mg gummy was hands down too much for me to handle.

Verdict

So does Delta-8 THC get you high? Absolutely. Delta-8 THC definitely gets you high, but at a lesser capacity than Delta-9 THC. After trying it for myself I believe the 60%-70% potency ratio could be due to the fact that Delta-8 doesn’t deliver a huge mental stimulus like delta-9 does. However, where it does lack in mental stimuli it makes up for in body euphoria and relaxation.

In the end it’s all about how much you take. The 20mg was perfect for me, but if you’re accustomed to hitting dabs and smoking multiple joints on a regular basis you might want to try a 30mg or even a 40mg. But as always, my advice with all new substances is to start small and build your way up.

In a lot of cases people avoid getting high with edibles because they just needed something to relieve pain or help them relax but instead were left with stress and mental tension. With the need for CBD or Delta-9 THC as a medical component to alleviate pain and anxiety, or plainly, just to get high. Delta-8 THC could be the solution to all of that.