This article by Allie Beckett was originally published on Weedmaps, and appears here with permission.
We've all had one of those moments where you're cleaning out the couch cushions or rummaging through the junk drawer and all of a sudden, you stumble across a glorious sight — old weed you had lost or forgotten about. But typically, the color has faded away and the bud has lost its bling, which causes you to second-guess throwing it in your piece. Luckily, Marijuana.com is here to settle your worries.
See also: What Happens If You Smoke Weed Every Day?
As you may already know, Weedmaps TV's Gil (one of the media pioneers of this industry) has been conducting strain reviews since 2010. We were able to track down some of his “stunt weed” ganja — sweet, succulent, sun-grown cannabis that was harvested in the fall of 2012 and has been sitting in a jar on the WMtv set ever since. While the cannabis had bright spotlights shone on it for the last five years, the seal of the mason jar had never been opened…
So, of course, we decided to send this rare five-year-old cannabis sample to Cannalysis testing lab.
It's time to really answer the question, once and for all: What happens to marijuana after years of less-than-ideal storage?
The Science: Old weed is notoriously known for acting as a potent sleep medicine. When THC is exposed to oxygen, it transforms into CBN — a cannabinoid that helps relax and put the body to sleep. In this …