The big milligram number on a gummy package is usually the whole package, not the piece you're about to eat — and that one misreading is behind a lot of rough first experiences with edibles.
The short answer. If you're new to edibles, start with 5 mg of THC or less: half of a standard 10 mg gummy, or a quarter of one, not the whole piece. That advice comes from California's consumer safety brochure, which sums up the state's guidance on edibles in four words: start low, go slow. New York's cannabis regulator suggests a similar 2.5 to 5 mg for someone new to cannabis.
The "go slow" half matters as much as the milligrams. An edible can take up to two hours to start working, and California's guidance is to wait at least that long to see how you feel. The rest of this page covers where the numbers come from and how to read them off the package; the timing gets its own guide, how long edibles take to kick in.
A serving and a package are two different numbers
California caps both numbers. Under state regulations, an adult-use edible can't contain more than 10 milligrams of THC per serving or 100 milligrams of THC per package (California Code of Regulations, title 4, § 17304, in the Department of Cannabis Control regulations, PDF).
Those two limits shaped the shelf. A 100 mg package split into ten 10 mg pieces hits both caps exactly, and most of the market settled on that format. Nothing requires it, though: lower-dose pieces exist, and the per-piece figure on the label is what your math runs on.
With that format, the math is simple:
- One piece = 10 mg of THC
- Half a piece = 5 mg
- The whole package = 100 mg — ten servings, never one
A compliant label has to state milligrams per serving and milligrams per package. The piece count is usually printed too, but divide the package figure by the per-serving figure and you have it either way. California also requires a CBD figure on the label, even when it reads 0 or under 2 mg, but that isn't the number that decides your dose: CBD is a separate cannabinoid that doesn't usually cause a high on its own, and THC vs CBD covers the difference.
One more thing shapes your total: edibles are slow. Anything more you eat while you wait for the first dose to kick in adds to what's already on its way. Taking more because nothing seems to be happening yet is how people end up with more than they planned.
What 2.5, 5, 10 and 25 mg look like
Dose charts online list milligrams without showing what those amounts look like in your hand. Here's the same scale in standard 10 mg pieces.
| THC | In 10 mg pieces |
|---|---|
| 2.5 mg | a quarter of a piece |
| 5 mg | half a piece |
| 10 mg | one whole piece |
| 25 mg and up | two and a half pieces or more |
California's consumer safety brochure says to start with 5 mg of THC or less; with a 10 mg serving, it suggests eating half. New York's cannabis regulator puts a first edible for someone new to cannabis at 2.5 to 5 mg, a quarter to half of a standard piece, and says cutting an edible into halves or quarters is how you get there. A whole piece is a full legal serving, twice the most either state suggests starting with, and anything from 25 mg up is well past what a first evening calls for.
None of that predicts how it will go for you. Two people who eat the same half gummy can feel it very differently.
Cutting a gummy with a knife is normal, and with 10 mg pieces it's the only way to get below a full serving. The halves come out approximate rather than exact, which at this scale doesn't matter: 4.5 versus 5.5 mg isn't what decides how an evening goes. What's left goes back where it came from: state guidance is to keep cannabis sealed in its child-resistant package, out of reach of children and pets. A cut gummy loose in a kitchen drawer is exactly what that rule is for.
The same milligrams don't land the same way
Two things that aren't on the label also shape the outcome, and the state's own consumer guidance says plainly that your reaction to cannabis may differ from someone else's.
Body composition and metabolism. An edible passes through the digestive system and the liver before it takes effect, and body size, composition and metabolism all change how much THC gets through and how fast.
Prior use. Tolerance builds with regular use, and it doesn't transfer neatly between formats: people who smoke every day are often caught off guard by an edible at an amount they assumed was modest.
Neither shows up on the package, and that's the limit of what a milligram number can tell you.
If someone has had more than they meant to
One thing works in your favor with a labeled product: you know how much THC was eaten, because the milligrams are printed on it. With a homemade or unlabeled edible you're guessing.
Nothing on this page is medical advice. If you or someone with you has had more than they meant to and feels unwell, California's public health department says to call California Poison Control at (800) 222-1222 as soon as possible, or 911 if it's an emergency. The same Poison Control number is the one to call if a child may have eaten cannabis. For a pet, call your veterinarian or the Animal Poison Control Center, (888) 426-4435.
What this looks like on a real menu
Gummies on our menu sit in the edibles category, and most of them follow the standard format: 100 mg per package, ten pieces of 10 mg. Some product pages give the per-piece figure; others list only the package total and the pack size, so divide one by the other. Where a listing gives only the total, the per-serving figure is on the package label, which California requires. Check the subtotal, too: the cheaper packages land under our $22 order minimum on their own, and checkout won't take an order below that.
The same category also carries concentrates — extracts with the plant material stripped out, sold by the gram under names like badder, sugar and diamonds. They're heated and inhaled with their own equipment, not eaten, and they're listed by THC percentage rather than portioned into milligram pieces, so none of the math on this page carries over. Gram for gram they're far stronger than flower, and not a starting point for anyone new; the beginner's guide to cannabis products covers better first picks.
You must be 21 or older to order from us, and the driver checks your government-issued photo ID at the handoff. If the legal market is new to you, start with how to buy cannabis in Los Angeles: which IDs work, possession limits and where you can use what you buy.
Common questions
Is a 10 mg edible too much for a first time? It's a full legal serving rather than a starter portion. California's guidance is to start with 5 mg of THC or less, and New York's cannabis regulator suggests 2.5 to 5 mg for someone new to cannabis. On a standard 10 mg gummy, that's half a piece or less.
I smoke regularly. Can I start higher? Not reliably. Tolerance from inhaling doesn't map cleanly onto an eaten product, and what someone handles comfortably in a joint says little about how a gummy will go.
Why are so many packages 100 mg? Because 100 mg is the legal maximum per package in California, and ten 10 mg pieces fill it exactly. The law caps the package but doesn't set the piece size, so check the per-piece figure instead of assuming.
The short version
In California a serving is at most 10 mg, a package usually holds ten of them, and the big number on the label is typically the whole package, not one piece. Start with 5 mg or less, half a piece at most, and give it at least two hours before deciding whether to take more: California says an edible can take that long to start working and up to four hours to reach full effect.
Verified on September 25, 2026, against the California Department of Cannabis Control, the California Department of Public Health and New York's Office of Cannabis Management: per-serving and per-package limits and label requirements from California Code of Regulations, title 4, §§ 17304 and 17407; onset times, storage guidance and poison-control numbers from California's responsible-use guidance; the starting amount of 5 mg or less and the two-hour wait from the state's consumer safety brochure, PDF; when to call Poison Control or 911 from the Department of Public Health's cannabis poisoning page; the 2.5 to 5 mg starting range from New York's adult-use consumer guidance. Rules change; check cannabis.ca.gov for the current text. This guide is general information, not legal or medical advice.