Many people wonder just how long does weed stay in your system? The short answer is that it varies depending on how much of it is in your system. Today I’ll break down the facts behind the question that many people have as well as offer up some solutions to get weed out of your system.
The Facts About Weed (Marijuana) Being In Your System
Pot, mary jane, dope, weed, marijuana, or cannabis. Call it what you want, but the facts remain the same – it’s detectable in your bodily fluids for a span of one to 30 days after the last time you used it. In some cases, it may be able to be detected for up to many months. This all depends on how much you ingest (or smoke), as well as how frequent you are doing this. It shouldn’t be of any surprise to you that the more you do it, and the higher dose you ingest, the longer it’ll stay in your system and be detectable.
If you use it daily, you can expect the cannabis to be detectable for many months after the last time it’s used. Some detection times will span beyond 90 days in length.
I’m also going to break down urine, blood, saliva, and hair and share with you what I know about the detection windows for finding it in your system, so pay close attention and you can rest assured I’ll share with you some game changing tips that can benefit you as you go through corporate drug testing.
How Long is Marijuana Detectable in Drug Testing?
When you perform drug tests, it’s important that you know they are designed to measure and record marijuana and it’s by-products, also called metabolites. The latter will be found in your system way after you get the high from weed, which let’s be honest, is a big reason many people smoke it.
Drug tests measure marijuana and its by-products, or metabolites. These metabolites remain in your system long after weed’s effects have worn off.
Urine testing
Marijuana can be detected in your urine for the below amounts of time. (Each one is based on the last use date.)
- Chronic heavy users (using many occasions throughout daily life) : more than 30 days
- Chronic users (usage on a daily basis) : 1 to 2 weeks
- Moderate users (four to seven days per week) : 5 to 7 days
- Occasional users (up to three times weekly) : 3 days
Source: Very Well Mind, reviewed by Richard N. Fogoros, MD.
There are many methods for passing a urine test for marijuana. Read that page to find out a few tricks, or visit this page to find our recommended solutions.
Did you know that urine testing is the most common testing method?
Blood Testing
If you are ever asked to take a blood test for marijuana, rest assured that it only really stays in your blood stream for up to two days in most cases. Sure, there are the outliers that will cite that it has been found after 25 days, but that’s a rarity and also coincides with chronic heavy use.
Once you inhale weed, it’ll be in your bloodstream in mere seconds as it’s already made it’s way to the tissues. Parts of it will be absorbed into your blood and broken down.
If you are ever sent to a laboratory to get a marijuana test, this is where they’d look for the weed. It’s not a very common type of testing.
Saliva Testing
You can actually have marijuana find it’s way into your saliva through the mere exposure to smoke, so be very careful of who you hang around leading up to a saliva test for weed. Of course, if you do smoke it, you’ll find that it’ll be detectable up to 29 days if you are a chronic user and just three days if you smoke occasionally.
Interesting Fact: if you find yourself in a jurisdiction where weed is legal, your oral fluid can be used for roadside sobriety testing. Keep that in mind before you go to Colorado or other legal States and just start smoking and driving, please.
Hair Testing
This is the one you’ll want to really pay attention to. First off, because the hair test for marijuana is a common one. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, because I’ve found a fool proof solution to the hair follicle testing that can help you beat it.
You’ll see marijuana use showing up in your hair tests for up to 90 days because the marijuana finds the hair follicles by coming through minute blood vessels.
When a hair follicle test is done, they will sample a 1.5-inch strand of hair plucked from the scalp to look at marijuana use over the last 90 days.
How Long Before the Marijuana Metabolizes?
We all understand that the active ingredient in marijuana is THC, right?
That should be basic knowledge, but I like to refresh things for people who may be learning about this for the first time. THC is short for delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol. It enters your body and makes it’s way into the bloodstream. Some is stored for a while in fatty tissues and organs. Once it’s entered your kidneys, it can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream.
With over 90 metabolites, THC gets broken down in your liver. As I touched on earlier, most drug tests look for metabolites.
Over time, THC and it’s metabolites are pushed out of your system through your stool and urine.
What Determines How Long Weed Remains In Your System?
There are a few things that will come into play to help determine how long this will stay in your system.
- Age
- Gender
- Body Mass Index (BMI)
While these aren’t related to the drug, they all have a hand in processing the drug.
Of course, the number one factor is frequency. If you are a heavy user, and use a huge dose, obviously it’ll stay in your system a longer time versus the occasional use of a small dosage.
When you smoke a stronger weed with a lot of potency, it has the chance of staying in your system longer as well.
How You Can Speed up The Process
I already know what you are thinking, how can I make marijuana metabolize through my system faster?
Many blogs will tell you to steam out, sweat out the marijuana through exercise, drink water, and be healthy, but while those all help you naturally detox, it won’t necessarily push weed through your system any quicker.
The only way to really help the cause is to use a detox kit.
How Long Before You Feel the Effects of Weed?
Sort of unrelated, but have you ever thought of the time it takes to get high versus the time it takes to rid your body of weed and it’s metabolites?
I have always been curious as to how you can get high so fast, but can’t get weed out of your system for days, and often times, a month.
The average person gets high 15 to 30 minutes after smoking weed, and up to two hours after ingesting it.
What are the Short Term Effects of Being High?
- enhanced well being
- feeling of relaxation
- time feels like it stops
- feeling of humor and talkativeness
- altered state of mind
While those affects deal with the “high” of weed, these ones are more like side effects that most people will agree aren’t enjoyable:
- lack of focus
- poor coordination
- desire to eat more
- hard to sleep
- feeling of restlessness
- increased heart rate
- dry eyes and “cottonmouth”
- feeling ill
- anxiety
Of course, in some situations people can go off the deep end and even hallucinate or become paranoid. Don’t worry, as the short term effects of weed will wear off in just one to three hours.
Conclusion
Weed stays in your system for a variety of time frames depending on many factors. If you are having to pass a drug test, it’s best that you stay away from marijuana entirely leading up to the test for 90 days. Of course, should you make a mistake, we recommend this vendor. They sell every type of kit you need to pass any test mentioned above, and even have at home drug testing kits you can use to test yourself prior.
