This is what happens when you smoke marijuana stalks

It happened to the best of us. It’s late at night and we’ve completely underestimated the amount of marijuana available to us. We are currently unable to buy more. We search our ashtray and our grass bag and there is nothing useful in sight. Then we discover the stems. Shall we smoke them? Can we smoke them?

Unfortunately, it looks like the stems of weeds are different from the usual flowers that you smoke. For starters, they don’t contain a lot of THC, which makes them useless if you’re trying to get high. They also taste bad and woody because they don’t contain a plant, and they’re linked to a number of negative side effects such as headaches, sore throats, and coughing fits, according to Healthline.

RELATED: 5 Things You Can Do With Leftover Marijuana Stems

Photos courtesy of The Gourmet Ghee Company

But just because you can’t smoke cannabis stalks doesn’t mean you can’t do anything useful with them. Many people find inventive ways to use these parts of cannabis to brew teas, make tinctures, topicals, and even stem butter. Although the stems don’t contain a lot of THC, they are still part of the cannabis plant and have many of the mysterious health benefits that experts and cannabis users love.

Before repurposing your stems for any reason, it’s important to decarboxylate them to activate the low levels of THC and other cannabinoids. Once you are done with this part of the process, you can pour the stems into whatever you want.

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Cannabis stalks are unlikely to get you high, but they could provide therapeutic and relaxing effects. There is anecdotal evidence that cannabis stem teas treat nausea, anxiety, chronic pain, and more while eliminating the unpredictable psychoactive effects of cannabis beverages. We even have a recipe for it.