Home » Health » Why smoking weed sometimes makes you nauseous

Why smoking weed sometimes makes you nauseous

A young man kneels in front of a toilet bowl, experts explain why smoking weed sometimes makes you throw up and what you can do about it.

Foto: Wavebreak Media ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Less is sometimes more. As clumsy as the phrase is, it actually always applies to drugs. Anyone who has ever had experience with alcohol can only nod in agreement. But restraint is also important when consuming cannabis if you don’t want to end up pale like a limestone. It happens very quickly: First everything is spinning, then break out in a sweat and, if things are going really badly, even the last meal.

Nausea and puking are among the worst acute side effects you can get from smoking weed. So we asked a few experts why weed sometimes poops and how to avoid it in the future. Because even if the recreational use of cannabis is not legal in most countries, that could change soon, at least in Germany. But let’s start with the scientific basics.


Also from VICE: We asked people about their most serious crimes


So macht Cannabis high

That can Mikael Sodergren explain well. He is Head of the Medical Cannabis Research Group at London’s Imperial College and Director of the Sapphire Medical Clinicsthe UK’s first official medical cannabis clinic.

“The euphoria that people feel from inhaling or other forms of cannabis use comes from the THC carrying through the blood across the blood-brain barrier to nerve cells in the brain, where it attaches to cannabinoid receptors,” he says.

“When the THC docks with these receptors in the brain, it causes a cascade — we call this the signaling pathway — that releases chemicals in certain areas of our brain, creating the euphoria.”

These receptors are part of the Endocannabinoid-Systems our body. This is part of the nervous system that helps basic functions such as regulating appetite, pain control, and nausea and vomiting.

This is what happens in the body when you get sick from cannabis

Basically, smearing on cannabis is “overstimulating the endocannabinoid system,” says Sodergren. “The chemicals released in the brain that can actually relieve nausea cause the opposite.”

OK, so a THC overdose? “You can overdose on anything if you take enough of it, including water,” Sodergren says. “But cannabis overdoses that lead to death are virtually non-existent.”

At times, the dizziness induced by a powerful high from large amounts of THC can become quite uncomfortable. It’s basically like chocolate or alcohol: too much makes you nauseous. At least temporarily. To date, there has not been a confirmed case of a fatal THC overdose.

A common explanation for cannabis-induced dizzy spells is the supposed blood pressure lowering effects of marijuana, but Sodergren explains that “the interaction between cannabis and blood pressure is not well defined. Some cannabinoids can also increase blood pressure”.

Peter Grinspoon is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and a Medical Cannabis Specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He says, “Cannabis is actually very good for nausea.” For chemotherapy patients have great advantages. “It interacts with the capsaicin receptors in the brain. Capsaicin is the stuff found in hot chili peppers. It helps to stop nausea and vomiting. It works too the vomiting center of the brainto reduce nausea and vomiting.”

However, in some cases people could also respond to a drug with a so-called paradoxical reaction have the opposite effect, says Grinspoon. “It’s thought that chronic overstimulation of the capsaicin receptor can have the opposite effect. It then increases nausea and vomiting rather than alleviating it.”

There’s even a rare condition associated with long-term regular cannabis use: that Cannabis-Hyperemesis-Syndrom. The few known sufferers suffer from abdominal pain, recurring nausea and cyclical vomiting. “Weed can help people with their nausea, but it can also make them very nauseous,” says Grinspoon. “I’ve seen people throw up for hours – it’s really bad.”

While you’re unlikely to be one of the unlucky few with the syndrome from throwing up after a bong, there are a few things you can do to make your cannabis experience more enjoyable.

How to avoid throwing up from weed

One should not combine weed with tobacco or alcohol. “Mixing different drugs in high doses increases the likelihood of getting the opposite effect,” says Sodergren.

However, the form of intake doesn’t make a particularly big difference, says Sodergren: “If you reach a comparable THC concentration in the blood, you get sick, regardless of whether you ate it, smoked it or vaped it.” However, smoking causes the THC to enter the bloodstream more quickly, which can make you nauseous faster.

Finally, Peter Grinspoon has some advice: “You should keep the doses down and know yourself. If it does happen, you should try to find out exactly what happened: Was alcohol involved? Was tobacco involved? Were you overtired? Did you take five puffs instead of the usual two?”

In short, you should take it slow—especially if you haven’t smoked weed in a while.

Follow VICE on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.