Written by the Rose Mary Jane team. Reviewed by our Cannabis Guides. Last updated 9 October 2026.
Quick answer: Most edible dosage charts start at 1 to 2.5 mg of THC and run past 20 mg. In Maine, one licensed serving is capped at 10 mg and a package at 200 mg, so a package holds 20 servings. New users are commonly advised to start at 2.5 mg and wait two hours.
Key takeaways:
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Maine caps a licensed edible at 10 mg THC per serving, 200 mg per package.
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A 200 mg package is 20 servings. The serving is what matters.
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Effects vary a lot between people at the same milligrams.
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Edibles get overdone most often, because the dose is already swallowed.
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Smoking tolerance is a weak guide. Different routes, different clocks.
What counts as a dose of a THC edible?
A dose of a THC edible is the milligrams of THC in one serving, not the number on the front of the bag. Maine caps that serving at 10 mg. A 200 mg package holds 20 of them.
Onset usually runs 30 minutes to 2 hours, and Maine labels must warn effects may not be felt for up to 4 hours. Our piece on how long edibles take to kick in has the timing.
Nothing here is medical advice. If you take prescription medication or have a health condition, talk to a healthcare provider who knows your history first.
THC edible dosage chart: what each band looks like
Here is the chart by milligrams of THC per serving, with what people commonly report.
| Dose band | Who it suits | Commonly reported | Caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2.5 mg | New, or back after a long break | Very little. A slight mood shift, no change in coordination | Easy to decide nothing happened and take more too soon |
| 2.5 to 5 mg | Occasional users past a trial dose | Mild but clear. Chatty, loose, hungry. Most people still function | Infrequent users often feel more than expected at 5 mg |
| 5 to 10 mg | Regular users, recent at 5 mg | Strong. Time stretches, body heavy, sleepy later | A full Maine serving, not a casual amount |
| 10 to 20 mg | Daily users who worked up to it | Heavy and long. Hours to fade, groggy morning common | Two Maine servings or more. Impairment here is real |
| 20 mg plus | Long-term, high-tolerance edible users | Sedation, hours of strong effect. Some report discomfort | Past your ceiling, extra mg buy side effects. Never a starting point |
Those bands are what the market and public health agencies commonly describe. They are not a prescription, and the research under them is thin.
One study does much of the work. A Johns Hopkins team including Nicholas Schlienz, Tory Spindle and Ryan Vandrey gave brownies at 10, 25 and 50 mg of THC to 17 adults who had not used cannabis for 60 days. It ran in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2020.
10 mg produced real subjective effects and raised heart rate, without measurable cognitive impairment. 25 mg and 50 mg impaired attention, memory and psychomotor performance. Peak effects landed 1.5 to 3 hours in.
Seventeen people is a small sample. Treat the chart as a starting place.
How does Maine's 10 mg serving cap change the arithmetic?
Every dose gets built out of 10 mg blocks, or fractions of one. Maine sets 10 mg per serving and 200 mg per package under Title 28-B section 703 and 18-691 CMR chapter 30. The package cap rose from 100 mg on 25 October 2023, so any guide citing 100 mg is stale.
| What you want | How you get there from a Maine package | Servings used |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5 mg | A quarter of one 10 mg gummy | 0.25 |
| 5 mg | Half of one 10 mg gummy | 0.5 |
| 10 mg | One whole gummy | 1 |
| 200 mg | The whole package | 20 |
For scale, Health Canada caps a whole edible package at 10 mg. One Maine serving.
How to split a 10 mg gummy without guessing
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Use a knife on a board. Biting a corner off lands you at 7 mg.
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Cut in half, then halve again. Even quarters beat eyeballed thirds.
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Infusion is not always even. A half is roughly 5 mg, not exactly.
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Wrap the rest and return it to the child-resistant package, label and all.
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Chocolate splits worse than gummies. If that bothers you, buy 5 mg pieces.
Our Maine cannabis label guide shows where those numbers sit, and the possession and purchase limits piece covers one trip's worth.
Why doesn't smoking tolerance carry over to edibles?
Because your liver handles a swallowed dose and your lungs do not. The Tennessee Poison Center, citing Lucas and colleagues from 2018, puts oral THC bioavailability as low as 6 percent against 10 to 35 percent inhaled, with the oral peak delayed 2 to 4 hours.
Different amounts, different clocks. Flower tolerance is a poor measuring stick for a gummy.
You will also read that the liver turns THC into 11-hydroxy-THC, a metabolite often called much stronger. The conversion is real. How much it changes the felt effect is less settled than the internet suggests, and some poison center summaries call the routes comparable.
So pick your band from your edible history. Daily smokers still get flattened by 10 mg. Our tolerance break guide covers resetting.
Why are edibles the format people most often overdo?
Because by the time you know how strong it is, you have taken all of it. There is no pacing an edible the way you pace a joint.
Andrew Monte and colleagues reviewed cannabis visits at a Colorado hospital from 2012 to 2016, in Annals of Internal Medicine, 2019. Edibles were 10.7 percent of cannabis-attributable emergency visits from 2014 to 2016, but only 0.32 percent of Colorado sales by kilograms of THC.
That gap is the whole argument for waiting two hours.
Effects also vary widely at the same dose. Two friends can split a 10 mg gummy and have different evenings. Our guide for when you are too high covers what helps.
What is a safe first-time edible protocol?
Start at 2.5 mg, wait at least two hours, and do not redose that night.
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Take 2.5 mg. A quarter of a 10 mg gummy, or a 2.5 mg piece.
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Eat something first. Food raises peak blood levels and absorption.
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Wait two hours minimum. Four is better. Set a timer.
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Do not take a second piece. Not at hour one, not at hour three.
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Stay home. No driving, nothing that needs you sharp.
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Skip the alcohol. It makes the dose harder to read.
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Tell someone what you took and when.
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Write it down. Milligrams, time, food, result.
Our first dispensary visit guide covers the ID check.
What changes how a dose lands?
Five things move the result more than the milligram number does.
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Food in your stomach. Raises peak blood levels and absorption. Keep meals similar between doses.
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Your body chemistry. Liver enzymes and body composition differ widely. Trust your log over a chart.
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Other medications. Can change how cannabis is processed. Ask a prescriber or pharmacist, not us.
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Product format. Drinks and nano gummies often land faster than chocolate. Treat a new format as new.
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Alcohol and recent use. Both make the dose read unpredictably. Leave a day between tests.
Beverages differ enough that we wrote separately on how long THC drinks take to kick in and choosing a THC drink in Portland.
Working out your number at our St John Street counter
Come to 327 St John St with a valid, unexpired government photo ID and a Cannabis Guide starts with one question: what have you taken before, and how did it go.
We are open daily, 8:30am to 10pm, and the phone is 207-805-1644.
If the answer is nothing, we point at the lowest milligram pieces and talk about splitting. If it is 5 mg last summer, we do not jump you to 20. Adult-use license only, so no medical certifications.
Stock moves, so check the online menu and order ahead for a milligram size. The Portland store page has parking, and points build through Amplify 2.0.
Frequently asked questions
How many mg of THC should a first-timer take?
Public health guidance commonly lands on 2.5 mg or less. The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction says no more than 2.5 mg, then wait to feel it before taking any more. In Maine that is a quarter of a 10 mg gummy. Eat first and stay home.
Is 10 mg of THC a lot?
For anyone without recent edible experience, yes. 10 mg is a full Maine serving, the legal maximum under Title 28-B section 703. In the 2020 Johns Hopkins brownie study, 10 mg produced clear subjective effects and raised heart rate in adults off cannabis for 60 days.
How long should I wait before taking a second edible?
Two hours minimum, and four hours is safer. Maine labels warn that effects may not be felt for up to 4 hours, under 18-691 CMR chapter 30. The Johns Hopkins team recorded peak effects 1.5 to 3 hours in. Redosing early turns a 5 mg evening into 15 mg.
Does a high smoking tolerance mean I can take a bigger edible?
Not reliably. Oral THC bioavailability has been estimated as low as 6 percent, against 10 to 35 percent inhaled, and the oral peak arrives hours later. The routes do not line up. Pick your band from your edible history. Daily smokers still get caught by 10 mg.
What happens if I take too much of an edible?
Usually several uncomfortable hours: racing heart, nausea, anxiety and poor coordination. Two of the 17 participants in the Johns Hopkins study vomited, at the 25 mg and 50 mg doses. Water, a quiet room and company are the standard advice. The Northern New England Poison Center answers at 1-800-222-1222. Chest pain, or anyone who cannot be roused, needs 911.
Finding your own number
A chart gets you a sensible first guess. Your own notes get you the rest, and they beat any table online, including ours.
Start low, give it the full two hours, and write down what happened. The Rose Mary Jane menu shows today's milligram sizes.