How Long Does It Take Marijuana To Leave Your System?

How long does it take marijuana to leave your system? The exact time it takes marijuana to leave your isn't set in stone, and many times it can vary up to a few months. Since it takes a long time for marijuana to leave your system, it's commonly tested for, and commonly worried over by casual pot-smokers the world over. The main tracers of marijuana use are THC and THC 9-carboxy. Specifically, 9-carboxy THC is a metabolized formed after cannabis is consumed, which means that it is a byproduct and not psychoactive in-and-of itself. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), on the other hand, is the main psychoactive substance found in marijuana, which gives most people the "high" they describe. If you'd like to know how long does it take for marijuana to leave your system, read on to listen to what the experts have to say.

  1. It depends on who you are. No, not as in how famous you are, but how your body operates, your weight, diet, and metabolism. A higher metabolism will force the last traces of marijuana to leave your system at an earlier date. If you've ingested a lot of water, food, and other substances, this can also alter the amount of time for marijuana to leave your system. The most common date range given for people is between 3 to as long as 30 days after smoking.
  2. How much someone smokes determines how long the body will keep remnants. Small amount of marijuana will leave a non habitual smoker's system within a few days (if not minutes or hours). Ingesting a more than a few grams of weed will be a lot different, however, and it'll usually take around a month, if you're lucky.
  3. Smoking marijuana often will increase THC retention. Marijuana smokers (those who commonly engage in smoking weed) will pop positive on a drug test more often than those who don't smoke habitually, even if the time elapsed and Mary Jane consumed is equalized. After three to four hours in an infrequent user, the THC has cleared out (four to eight hours in a smoker). THC 9-carboxy hangs around in the blood for about two to three days in an infrequent smoker, and two or more weeks in someone who smokes often. 9-carboxy can be identified via urine tests for twice that amount of time (usually up to a maximum of seven days for non-smokers).
  4. THC does not have to be in the body to fail a drug test. Technically, the question of how long does it take marijuana to leave your system must consider the fact that weed itself is gone after a few hours. The detectable traces of marijuana, however, such as 9-carboxy THC, are what is responsible for popping positive on most drug tests. Therefore, the time it takes the actual marijuana to leave your system is a period of a few hours (after the "high" ends).

There are lots of truths about how long it takes marijuana to leave your system that you probably didn't know. For example, THC evacuates the body quickly, but leaves behind clues that it was there at one point in time (that's how you get "busted"). How long does it take marijuana to leave your system? Well, factor in all of the above and you'll get an answer to that!

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