Can You Snort Weed? Benefits, Risks, and Safer Alternatives

You’re here because you’ve probably considered the possibility of snorting weed like Scarface’s Tony Montana doing white lines. Now, while it is possible to shoot cannabis up your nose, it might not be your best choice. Keep reading to learn why, as we clarify what snorting cannabis means and share its pros and cons.

What is Snorting Weed? 

Snorting weed involves inhaling or sniffing cannabis through your nose. Not the smoke or vapor, but the actual plant material. Obviously, you can’t do this with raw flower, even if it’s finely ground, because your body can’t process cannabis that way. You’ll just end up with a nose and throat full of plant dust, irritation, congestion, and zero high.

The same goes for oils and tinctures, since they’re liquid-based and not suitable for nasal use. However, snorting liquids is even more potentially dangerous due to aspiration risk; breathing in straight-up liquids can mess up the balance in your lungs and cause infection or respiratory distress. 

However, if you are determined, you can attempt it with powdered concentrates like cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) isolates – specifically, water-soluble ones.

Can You Snort Weed? 

Yes, you can snort specific forms of weed, but not the actual plant material, even if you’ve pulverized it into a powder. To snort weed, you need a refined and purified, water-soluble cannabis concentrate, such as CBD or THC powder. Why? Because, unlike your stomach, your nasal membranes can’t absorb raw flower.

If you’d like to use your nose, you must extract cannabinoids like CBD and THC from the flower and turn them into a substance your nasal membranes can absorb. One example is Canna Bumps, a sniffable cannabis concentrate made by THC Living. The brand eventually discontinued it after poor market reception and backlash, but the word “canna-bump” lives on as slang for snuffling cannabis.

What Happens When You Snort Weed? 

When you snort CBD or THC powder, it travels up your nostrils and coats the moist nasal lining (nasal mucosa). Some of the powder sticks there, where the mucus begins to dissolve it. If the substance is water-soluble, it breaks down into particles small enough to pass through the thin nasal lining. Oily or solid concentrates won’t dissolve this way and might even clog up your nose or pose a choking hazard.

Once dissolved, the cannabinoids pass into the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in your nose and quickly enter the bloodstream – much faster than if you swallowed them. Any powder that doesn’t dissolve gets carried down your throat and into your stomach for digestion like an edible.

The effects usually kick in within minutes, but the exact effects you’ll experience strongly depend on what you snorted. For instance, THC powder can cause psychoactive effects, while CBD powder won’t.

You are also less likely to experience psychoactive effects if you snort a THC powder that hasn’t undergone decarboxylation. And if you snort powdered cannabis flower, you’ll most likely sneeze or cough out what doesn’t end up down your throat.

Should You Snort Cannabis?

Even though snorting cannabis (specifically water-soluble THC or CBD powder) is possible, it doesn’t mean you should. That’s something THC Living, the makers of Canna Bump, learned the hard way. Beyond the ethical debate about sniffable cannabis mimicking cocaine habits, the real concern lies in the health risks.

Snorting any drug can clog your nose, inflame your nasal lining, and cause nose bleeds or loss of smell and taste. It also puts you at risk of respiratory and lung issues. Sniffing CBD or THC powder or doing a canna-bump isn’t any less risky. However, the risk is much less if you sniff nasal sprays, which offer your preferred cannabinoids in an appropriately dissolved spray form.

You may be tempted to think any cannabis liquid is less risky than plant material, or just as good as a properly formulated intranasal application, but they are not made the same.  Pharmaceutical-grade intranasal applications are safer and better because they spread evenly, dissolve better, and are less likely to scratch or clog the inside of your nose. 

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However, if you inhale a liquid instead of an intranasal spray or gas, you’re delivering cannabis compounds through a route your body wasn’t naturally designed to handle. Although intranasal sprays are sold in a liquid bottle form, the sprays actually have an atomizer that gives much smaller doses (in micrograms, usually) that won’t risk aspiration if administered properly.

Meanwhile, if you inhale too much hydrocarbon-rich, pure liquid directly through the nose (like cannabis oils), it can go right into the lungs, where liquids aren’t well-received. You risk hydrocarbon aspiration effects like pneumonitis and pneumonia, respiratory distress, cardiac arrhythmias, altered mental status, seizures, or even death if too much liquid or terpenes are aspirated. Terpenes in particular are toxic to lung cells if overly concentrated or inhaled directly (i.e., hydrocarbon toxicity).

So, no, you shouldn’t snort weed just because you can. Sure, it might hit fast, but the tradeoff isn’t worth it. Long-term use can wreck your nose and raise your risk of serious respiratory and lung problems.

Potential Benefits of Snorting Weed

1. Fast Onset of Effects: Since cannabinoids can enter the bloodstream through nasal capillaries, effects may kick in within minutes, faster than edibles or capsules. But not faster than inhalation methods like smoking or vaping, which deliver vastly larger amounts of cannabinoids almost instantly to the bloodstream through the lungs. 
2. High bioavailability: Intranasal applications share similar impressive bioavailability with inhaled routes, greater than 30% on average.
3. Avoids Digestion: Snorting bypasses the liver, so the cannabinoids don’t get broken down by first-pass metabolism. This means you may get more direct effects from the dose.
4. Discreet Use: Unlike smoking, there’s no off-putting odor or cloudy wafts from vaping to give away what you’re up to. However, this assumes you are not obviously snorting any white powder in public view or in sight of law enforcement, who may gain probable cause by witnessing such unusual drug consumption.

Potential Dangers of Sniffing Weed

While there isn’t much research on the dangers of taking cannabinoids up the nose, we can infer them from the well-documented damage caused by snorting other drugs. These risks include:

1. Nasal Irritation: Snorting cannabis powder can burn, sting, or dry out the nasal lining, leaving you with discomfort and inflammation.
2. Nosebleeds: The delicate blood vessels in your nose can easily break, especially with repeated exposure, leading to frequent nosebleeds.
3. Loss of Smell: Long-term irritation and tissue damage can dull or even permanently reduce your sense of smell.
4. Chronic Congestion: Constant inflammation may cause ongoing stuffiness, a runny nose, or rhinitis.
5. Septum Damage: Over time, repeated snorting can erode the cartilage in your septum, creating a painful hole that makes breathing harder.
6. Sinus Infections: Damaged nasal tissue and trapped powder particles can increase your chances of recurring sinus infections.
7. Respiratory Issues: Fine particles can travel down into your lungs, irritating your airways and raising your risk of coughing, bronchitis, pneumonitis, pneumonia, or other breathing problems.
8. Psychoactive Side Effects: A fast THC surge can bring anxiety, paranoia, dizziness, or nausea if you overdo it. It also raises the risk of building tolerance quickly.
9. Hydrocarbon toxicity: Certain hydrocarbon compounds, like terpene, can cause serious or potentially fatal effects if they are aspirated in a liquid, isolated, or concentrated state. If this occurs, call 911 right away and do not induce vomiting. If vomiting has already occurred, move the patient on their left side and head down to prevent further aspiration until EMS arrives. 

As this shows, the risks of canna-bumping far exceed its rewards. Also, you are more likely to experience most of these issues if you already have a nasal or respiratory condition.

Safer Alternatives to Canna-Bumping

As tempting as snorting cannabis may be for its novelty or fast and potent effects, there are safer consumption methods. Some work just as fast, while others offer all the benefits of cannabinoids without endangering your respiratory system. Here are your options:

• Inhalation: Dabbing, smoking, and vaping have onset speeds comparable to snorting, since they deliver cannabinoids straight to the bloodstream through the lungs. The difference? They don’t wreck your nasal lining in the process. However, there is still the risk of respiratory issues from inhaling hot smoke or vapor, especially with frequent use.
• Edibles: Ingesting cannabis-infused foods and drinks may take longer to kick in, but you get longer-lasting effects since cannabinoids pass through the liver and convert into stronger metabolites. It’s also one of the safest ways to consume cannabis since it doesn’t harm your lungs or nasal passages, though dosing can be tricky.
• Tinctures: Using cannabis sublingually is another low-risk method. The cannabinoids absorb directly into your bloodstream through oral capillaries, so you feel the effects faster than swallowing edibles.
• Suppositories: This one’s for the adventurous if you’re otherwise healthy, but often used in geriatric or oncology patients who cannot eat or digest well. It involves inserting a dissolvable CBD or THC capsule into the rectum, where it bypasses digestion and absorbs quickly into the bloodstream. Some patients use this route for strong, fast relief without smoking or swallowing.
• Nasal Sprays: If you insist on taking cannabinoids up your nose, your safest bet is with nasal sprays. They deliver a tightly-controlled dose of pre-dissolved cannabinoids in an atomized spray form, so your nasal lining absorbs them more safely and evenly without excess liquid to risk aspiration. You still get a quick onset, but without the harsh irritation that comes with sniffing powders or the risk of inhaling too much liquid.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Can I snort THC or THCA diamonds?

You shouldn’t snort raw THC or THCA diamonds, even after grinding them into a fine powder. Since diamonds aren’t water-soluble, they won’t dissolve in your nose and pass through the nasal lining. 

If you do snort powdered THC diamonds, most of it will end up down your throat and possibly into the reaches of your lungs.

Is sniffing THC different from sniffing cocaine?

Yes. Cocaine is a rapidly absorbed narcotic and stimulant, while THC is a psychoactive compound that acts more like a depressant in the body. Their effects are completely different, with cocaine leaving you wired, restless, and on edge, while THC tends to slow you down, alter perception, and impair coordination. 

Both, however, may increase socializing but also carry the risk of dependence, with a relatively greater risk of cocaine addiction, especially if used together.

Are all CBD and THC powders suitable for snorting?

No, only water-soluble CBD and THC intranasal sprays or fine, water-soluble powders are suitable. Regular concentrates, crushed flower, or powdered THC diamonds won’t dissolve properly in your nasal lining.

Will I get high from snorting weed?

Snorting powdered cannabis flower or kief won’t get you high. The same goes for sniffing CBD powders or smelling any raw flower growing or stored nearby. You’ll only experience impairing effects from snorting decarbed THC powders or nasal sprays.

Is snorting weed safe?

No, not outside a specially-formulated intranasal spray form. Taking any form of solid or liquid cannabis up your nose isn’t safe for your nose or lungs. That said, nasal sprays pose less risk than powders and are currently being researched for several therapeutic applications. If you want the safest way to consume cannabis, consider edibles and tinctures, as they can’t harm your nose or respiratory system.