In short, it varies. How long weed stays in your body depends on two things, one, the amount a person inhales or ingests, and the other, the person. Two persons can smoke or ingest the same amount of marijuana, aka weed, but it could be detected on a person for more than a month, while it could leave the other person’s body just about after 20 days. But, like many other drugs, it could be undetectable in your body, yet it could be in your hair for months.
There was a report where weed was detected even after 90 days, but that’s a rare case. Usually, it leaves your body after about 30 days. But this detection window is different with different tests, whether that’s blood, hair, saliva, or urine. Also, the more you smoke, the more time it may take to leave your body. With that said, let’s look at the detection period in each type of test, and then we will answer some of the most asked questions.
How Long is Weed Detectable?
The tests check for not only marijuana itself but also its by-products. Even if marijuana leaves your body, the by-products may stay in your body for a bit longer. Let’s take a look.
Blood Testing
In a typical case, weed leaves your body after about 1 to 2, and after that, weed will be undetectable in your blood, but that’s a typical case. There have been cases where tests could detect marijuana even after 25 days, so there’s no rock-solid definite answer, and there are reasons for that as well. If you have marijuana for the first time or after a long time, the detection period should be 1 to 2 days. It is higher for those who smoke every once in a while or chronic abusers. As for how long it takes for weed to get into the bloodstream? Well, that happens in a matter of seconds.
Urine Testing
Some by-products released during metabolism are fat-solutions, and since our body has quite a bit of fat molecules, the by-products bind with the fat molecules. That’s why it takes longer to get rid of weed or its by-products to go undetected in urine tests. Here’s a definite answer on how long it would take to leave your body based on your usage.
- Occasional Inhalation/Ingestion(maximum 3 times a week): 3 days
- Moderate usage (four times a week): 5 to 7 days
- Chronic Abuser: 10 to 15 days
- Heavy Chronic Abuser: 30 days
Saliva Testing
In a 2014 review, we got to know marijuana and its by-products detection period varies quite a bit. For an occasional user, weed could be detectable for 1 to 3 days, and however, it could be detectable for a chronic user for about 1 to 29 days.
Hair Testing
Hair testing is where weed could be detected for up to 90 days. Once weed gets into the bloodstream, it travels to every part of your body, including your hair follicles. The weed travels through small vessels to your follicles and doesn’t clear up very easily. For tests, a 1.5-inch hair segment closer to the scalp will be taken, and that’s because hair grows about 0.5 inches in a month, and since it’s a 3-months period, the total hair length taken is 1.5-inch.
How Long Does Weed Take to Metabolize?
The main active ingredient in weed is THC, short for Tetrahydrocannabinol, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. As soon as it enters your bloodstream, it starts getting into your organs and fatty tissues, and from there, it can be reabsorbed by the bloodstream. Multiple re absorptions between your organs and bloodstream are why weed gets detected in blood or urine tests even after a couple of days since your last smoke.
Are There Any Factors That Can Affect How Long Weed Stays in Your Body?
Well, the dosage is the one that matters the most. With higher dosages, more amounts of THC get into the body, so it would take more time for the weed to get cleared out. Other factors such as age, gender, and body mass index play a big role in how fast your body metabolizes. How long weed stays in your body depends directly on how fast your body metabolizes it, not to mention you could experience a couple of side effects of weed.
Can You Do Anything To Get the Weed Out of Your Body Faster?
Once the weed is in your bloodstream, there’s not much you can do. It is all on your body’s metabolism. If you exercise regularly and are physically fit, you should have a higher metabolism, which helps, but not too drastically. But this doesn’t mean doing exercises only after you take weed will work. It may help a little, but there’s no concrete evidence to back that up. There are remedies and weed detoxification kits that are available only. They claim to get your system free from weed easily, but you should know that there’s no concrete evidence that they work reliably. Yes, they may show some cases where it did work, but those are just cherry-picked results.
Wrapping Up
As you know by now, weed may stay in your system for a couple of days, and how long that will depend on a variety of factors. So, keep that in mind if your work or college requires a compulsory test. Golden Road Recovery is a residential inpatient facility in Los Angeles, California. It is a luxury 6-bed treatment facility for alcohol & drug withdrawal.
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