Why Does Weed Make Me Poop?

When it comes to a nice session of getting high as a kite with your favorite strain of weed, you wouldn’t probably think this is a universal experience, but having to do a bathroom run for Number #2 after enjoying a nice, big joint is something that has happened to all of us potheads at a certain point. You even probably noticed before, but you also thought it was just you, right? Not everyone has to run to the nearest toilet because suddenly nature was calling. Or Is it?

Well, let’s learn something new today. Pot has plenty of effects on our body, and one of the weirdest ones is stimulating our digestive tract. And contrary to what you might believe, it’s a far more interesting story than you might believe, so strap your belts and get ready, because we are going to investigate why does weed makes me poop. And if you are reading this on your phone while on the throne, hi there! Good timing.

“Home is where you can poop comfortably” some say, and it’s true. We all know that person who is incapable of going to the bathroom unless it’s their own (and if you don’t know anyone like that, then it’s you). And that has a lot to do with the animal instincts we still carry with us. We’ll get to the weed part, be patient.

So, pooping. It’s an intensely personal experience that, beyond being a physiological need, also makes us feel vulnerable, especially if we are in an unfamiliar or public space. This has a lot to do with our survival instincts; pooping in the wild was always a gamble because you are distracted, focused on something else, and at the mercy of any predator that might jump into you.

So we developed a defense mechanism where we are unable to poop under stressful situations, and many of the early humans avoided pooping entirely unless they were in a safe space. And millennia later, we still feel insecure when taking a dump at a friend’s home. But what does this have to do with cannabis? Easy. Since weed relaxes you, it makes your body feel more free to relieve itself. So next time you feel stressed and constipated, light a joint. It’s science, baby.

Being stressed or relaxed isn’t the only factor that decides whether you can poop or not, right? Right, and the science behind it is more fascinating than it may seem. For example, did you know that your body naturally produces substances similar to THC? And they regulate pooping?

It’s no joke, they are called “endocannabinoids”, and we are beginning to understand them properly after they were discovered in the 90’s. As far as we know today, they help regulate a lot of the body functions you might relate to weed, like hunger, but pooping is also one of them.

And because they are so similar to the cannabinoids found in weed, smoking a joint amplifies these functions, which result in things like the munchies, and the sudden need to poop sometimes. And hey, if weed plays so well with human physiology, that means that we were meant to get high, which is a nice side bonus of the study of endocannabinoids. Go science!

However, don’t think that this relaxing effect on the body is all fine and dandy, because there are a couple of side-effects and cases you should keep an eye for, and it has to do again with how your body process weed and effects your motility (i.e. pooping) system.

And this is because CBD, the other magical ingredient in weed, has been used to treat patients with gastro-intestinal issues, like Crohn’s Disease, and consuming cannabis can provoke diarrhea in some users. Yeah, weed can make you poop too much sometimes.

And this is not entirely harmless; it’s becoming more and more common for cannabis enjoyers to get what’s known as “Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome”, which causes strong nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and, yes, diarrhea in users that use very strong variants of cannabis a little too often, for long periods of time.

There’s even a slang for these symptoms, “scromiting”, and if you or any of your pals suffered any of these after enjoying a joint, you might want to see a doctor, as this condition can worsen over time. So be careful, mix your weed consumption with lighter stuff from time to time, and always seek counseling if you feel something is not normal. As the blog “Marijuana Doctors” puts it:

“People who develop gastrointestinal reactions to cannabis can make a few changes if they feel like pot is making them poop too much. One of the best steps is to reduce the potency of the medical cannabis products that you are using. That may mean gearing down from concentrates to a lower potency THC product.

Another suggestion may be to try strains of cannabis that have low cannabidiol content. Since CBD has been proven to increase motility (make you poop), then steer clear of cannabis strains that have a high CBD content.”

So there you have it, just take it easy, go for strains that have lower contents of CBD and THC and please, go to the doctor if your pooping is starting to get out of control. It may sound like a joke, but being on the lookout for weird side effects is just good weed discipline, and can help you enjoy your chilling sessions for longer by just having some responsibility with your consumption.

But in any case, not only is it a good idea to have a bathroom close by when you decide to enjoy a nice joint, but also remember to bring with you the best tools available when preparing your weed just as you like it. Like a grinder that will save all the best benefits of cannabis, keep it fresh and easy to roll. Try it!

Author: Shaggy