Why Does My Poop Smell Like Weed?

Weed can affect your body in so many different ways. Some stoners claim that weed makes them pee more and leave their armpits smelling like skunk. If you notice that your poop smells like weed, you’re not alone. Here’s why your poop may smell like weed. 

Photo: Unsplash

How Can Poop Smell Like Weed?

That’s a great question. However, since your sweat can smell like weed, it’s not unusual that another excrement could smell like weed. 

We were curious about how poop gets its smell. Once we figured that out, it may help us understand how poop may smell like weed.

Well, according to Everyday Health, poop gets its smell from the bacteria in the colon as well as changes in your diet. 

Therefore, chances are your poop smells like weed because you ate weed in the form of edibles. 

We spoke to Dr. David Berger, owner of Wholistic ReLeaf, and Dr. David, MD. about why someone’s poop can smell like weed. He told us that in his seven years as a cannabis certifying physician he has never had a patient complain about this.

However, Dr. Berger offered some insight into why your poop may smell like weed.

“….if a person consumes an edible, if made with grounded cannabis, there could be fibers in the edible that [pass] through. Also, orally consumed cannabis products, similar to consumption of other herbs such as garlic, contain aromatic compounds that are excreted into stool.”

Therefore, if your poop smells like weed, there is nothing to worry about. It’s likely due to cannabis compounds being excreted in the poop because you ate weed or weed products. 

Can Smoking Weed Make You Poop?

There are stoners on Reddit claiming that weed makes them poop.

One stoner posted that lighting up their blunt makes them poop immediately.

“i’ve smoked weed for a few years now but only recently have i encountered this phenomenon. It’s gotten bad enough to where i now start off my smoke sessions in the bathroom.”

Others commented saying:

“Happens to me when I smoke or eat edibles but not when I vape.”

“I’ve had this happen more than a few times.”

There are also stoners who claim that weed causes diarrhea.

One Reddit user said, “Since using edibles (don’t smoke flower), I wake up every morning with diarrhea. When I get the munchies I eat a bunch of random things.”

Another Reddit post said, “In the last 2 weeks or so I’ve been doing a lot more weed than I usually do during a day. I’ve also started to notice that in the mornings when I’m dealing with the hangover effects I poop a lot.”

Interestingly, weed is not known to cause diarrhea or make you poop.

As a matter of fact, weed is thought to do the complete opposite.

Dr. Berger tells us, “Marijuana is more likely to slow down stool passage. This is one of the benefits for cannabis patients who have Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Especially if orally consumed, cannabis is more likely to cause constipation as a side effect.”

However, Dr. Berger admits his patients do present with softer stool sometimes.

“I have had patients who have had softer to looser stool if using a low concentration tincture that had them using a higher amount of oil to get the milligram dose. I have also seen some issues with edibles, but this is not common.”

Why Does Cannabis Make Some People Poop?

The reason you poop after eating an edible may not have anything to do with weed at all.

It’s possible that while you had munchies you ate food that upset your stomach or ate expired edibles.

Besides that, there is evidence that marijuana may make you poop even though the science proves the opposite to be true. 

Even though weed tends to slow down stool passage, a 2019 study found that people who used weed pooped more than those who didn’t.

“Overall, constipation prevalence was lower among those with recent MJ use compared with those with past/never use. Recent MJ use was associated with a 30% decreased odds of constipation.”

In addition, cigarette smokers also find that they poop when they smoke.

There are similar compounds in cigarette smoke and weed smoke so we thought it was important to investigate if cigarette smokers had similar problems.

According to Healthline, cigarette smoking can trigger digestive issues already present in some people.

“….smoking may make diarrhea symptoms of IBD — like Crohn’s disease, a type of IBD — more severe.”

However, Healthline concluded that smoking may not make you poop directly. Instead, there are other factors at play that may make you go to the bathroom.

That may also be the case with weed. 

Takeaway

So, why does your poop smell like weed? Your poop smells like weed because of weed fibers in the edibles or other aromatic compounds expelled in the stool. Besides weed making your poop smell a certain way, stoners complain about weed affecting their poop in other ways. Some stoners say weed makes them poop. The science primarily says that weed slows down the passage of stool. However, stoners seem to poop more. Therefore, the relationship between cannabis and poop is a little contradicting and complicated.