Edibles can be tricky. Because everyone reacts to cannabis differently, it’s often hard to gauge what your own personal reaction will be to edibles. You often don’t know how strong they’ll be, how to dose them, how long to wait before you’ll feel them, what they’ll feel like, and so forth. And moreover when you digest THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, your liver transforms it into becomes 11-Hydroxy-THC, a metabolite that could feel a little more psychedelic than merely smoking a joint.
An edible solution called Quigley’s aims to alleviate these issues. The Quigley’s line of fast-acting cannabis-infused beverages is meant to take the guesswork out of edibles.
According to a focus group of Colorado budtenders who sold Quigley’s, 80 percent of light cannabis users and 88 percent of heavy users felt the effects of the drink within just six minutes. Quigley’s cannabis shots contain ten milligrams of THC. “Ten milligrams of THC is like having two and a half glasses of wine,” explains edibles expert Jeff the 420 Chef.
Quigley’s shots don’t allow the THC to go far enough down through the body to get processed by the liver like regular edibles, Tony Alfiere, co-founder of Quigley’s, tells Jane Street. When the liver transforms THC into 11-Hydroxy-THC, consumers may potentially have more challenging experiences than they otherwise would with cannabis. “Instead the beverage allows the THC to be absorbed in the upper GI {gastrointestinal system} before it gets to the stomach. It’s avoiding that liver processing,” he says.
Because THC is soluble in lipids, or fatty acids, the THC in Quigley’s formulation is dispersed through lipophilic compounds when the GI absorbs it, Alfiere continues. This is why the THC in Quigley’s formulation doesn’t travel to the lower intestine where the liver will process it: “When you swallow the beverage, the oils and fats that make up the THC immediately leave the solution and attach themselves to the upper GI,” he explains, since fats and oils don’t mix with water. “This allows for quick absorption of those compounds where the fats were designed to be.”
Quigley’s technology allows the edible experience to circumvent certain variables that would otherwise lead to guessing games. “The real problem with this whole process is if you have a lot of fiber in your diet, if you’ve just eaten, just everything affects how the edible affects you,” says Alfiere. “How do I take a dose of an edible, do I take it in the morning, in the evening, before I eat? It’s a lot of thinking. I’ve been in the industry for twenty years and I’ve never figured out how to make edibles for me, traditional edibles.”
Moreover, because Quigley’s cannabis beverage shots take effect so quickly, they’re also easier to dose. “If it takes only six minutes for it to kick in, you’re not going through the ‘Oh I don’t feel it, maybe I need some more’ scenario,” says Jeff the 420 Chef.
One of the biggest issues with traditional edibles is that they could take up to two hours to fully set in. If you’re impatient and decide to redose within 40 minutes to an hour, you may end up much higher than you wanted to be.
In addition to the ten milligram THC shot, Quigley’s also has a fifty milligram multi-dose beverage, as well as a powder you can stir into a drink. “We can infuse anyone’s product with this technology,” says Alfiere. With products verified through lab-tested technologies, these kinds of edibles may be well-suited for newer patients who aren’t as comfortable with the effects of THC, or who don’t want to start smoking it. “It makes it fast and gives customers what they’re asking for,” he says. “The way the industry is headed, I don’t see a lot of people who want to start smoking all of a sudden.”
