Cannabis

How long the effects last and the drug stays in your system depends on how much you’ve taken, your size and what other drugs you may have also taken.

To kick in:

When smoked, it normally takes a minute or two to feel stoned. If you eat cannabis, it can up to an hour.

How long it lasts:

This depends on how much you smoke. Generally, the effect is strongest for about 10 minutes to half an hour after smoking cannabis, but if you smoke a lot, you may still feel stoned for a couple of hours. If you eat cannabis, the peak effects can last for 2 to 4 hours, and there may even be a few more hours before the effects wear off completely.

After effects:

People may still feel the effects the next day, particularly after a heavy session.

If you’ve used cannabis as a one-off, it will show up in a urine test for around 2 to 3 days afterwards.

However, this can go up to a month for regular users.

How long a drug can be detected for depends on how much is taken and which testing kit is used. This is only a general guide.

Soft black resin, furry green leaves and hard brown lumps, cannabis can look very different depending on its type – but it all comes from cannabis plants.

You’re most likely to come across these types:

Weed

Also known as grass, weed is made from drying out the leaves and flowering parts of the cannabis plant. It can look like dried herbs and is usually brownish-green in colour.

Skunk

This is the name given for particular strains of grass that are very strong. Skunk’s become very popular in recent years and is often bright, pale or dark green in colour and covered in tiny crystals.

Hash/hashish

Not nearly as common as it used to be, hash (or hashish) is made from the resin of the cannabis plant and can be black, brown, soft or hard – depending on the type.

Cannabis oil

This is a dark, sticky and honey-coloured substance that’s much less common than other types.

'Dab'/'shatter'

These are highly concentrated forms of cannabis that are extracted using butane. They come in a solid form known as 'dab' or 'shatter' and can be used as e-liquids in vape pens.

Cannabis has a musky, sweet smell. Some of the more potent types of cannabis can have a stronger smell, but this isn’t a reliable guide to the strength of any particular batch.

Smoke spliffs

In the UK, most people mix it with tobacco and roll it into a cannabis cigarette known as a spliff or joint. Some people don’t use tobacco at all and make weed-only spliffs - either because they prefer it that way or to avoid becoming dependent on nictotine.

Smoke bongs

Users do this mix by mixing the drug with tobacco and putting it in a pipe, lighting it, and then inhaling the smoke through water out of a large tube. There are many types of bongs, and not everyone uses tobacco. Like with joints, using tobacco in bongs increases the risk of nicotine dependence.

Edibles you can eat or drink

People do this by mixing it into cakes (hash brownies), tea, yoghurt or sweets (gummies/lollipops). The amount of cannabis in these products can vary greatly and sometimes – especially in sweets – other harmful drugs (particularly synthetic cannabinoids) are added or used instead. The effects of consuming edibles are unpredictable and it can be very easy to accidentally take a larger dose than you wanted to.

Vapes and vape products

Substances found within cannabis such as CBD (legal) or THC (illegal) may also be sold in vape products like e-cigarettes, ready-made vapes and vape juices. These may claim to contain cannabis chemicals like CBD and THC but might contain synthetic cannabinoids or other drugs instead, since, given their illegality, they don’t go through any controls.

Vaporisers

A vaporiser is a device designed to heat cannabis without burning it. Users then inhale the fumes rather than smoke the burnt product.

Yes. Heavy cannabis users often get cravings and find it hard not to take the drug – even when they know it’s causing them physical, mental or social problems.

When heavy users do try to stop they can:

• feel moody and irritable
• feel sick
• find it hard to sleep
• find it hard to eat
• experience sweating and shaking
• get diarrhoea

If you roll your spliffs with tobacco, you’re also at risk of getting addicted (or staying addicted) to nicotine.

Cannabis is different to other Class B drugs as it comes under the discretionary warning scheme.

This means that a police officer can choose to issue you with a street warning only (which doesn’t form a criminal record, though it will be recorded), so long as:

• you're in possession of a small amount of cannabis only, and for your personal use
• it’s the first time you’ve been caught with an illicit drug and you have no previous record of offence
• you are compliant, non-aggressive and admit that the cannabis is for your own use only

If you're caught with cannabis and it's your second offence, the police can issue with a fixed-term fee notice, which is an on-the-spot fine for £80.

As long as you pay that within 21 days, there's no criminal record. If there’s a third occasion, you will be arrested and taken to the police station.