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Marijuana is the most commonly used and tested for illicit drug in the United States. There is no simple and accurate answer to the question "how long does THC stay in the body?". THC can remain in the body and its metabolites can be detected by many drug tests from 3 to 90 days after it is ingested orally or smoked. Many factors go into determining how long drug toxins will remain in a person's body; these factors vary from person to person and include the analytical method used to detect the drug, your overall health, your body weight and body fat percentage, your metabolic rate, your fluid intake, the type of drug used, and the degree of exposure to the drug toxin.

THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is one of nearly 400 chemicals found in a cannabis (marijuana) plant; it is the particular chemical that accounts for most of marijuana's mind-altering (psychoactive) or so-called pleasurable effects. The strength of the drug (marijuana) and the degree of mind-altering effects obtained after smoking the drug is determined by the amount of THC it contains, and this varies from plant to plant.

In order to answer the question "how long does THC stay in the body?", you have to first understand how the drug is absorbed into the body and how it is metabolized by the body. The THC in marijuana enters the bloodstream within minutes of being smoked (within 30 minutes to 2 hours if ingested orally) and is then rapidly absorbed and stored in fatty body tissue, including the brain, liver, bladder, and kidneys. The fact that THC is fat soluble is the reason why THC is able to remain in the body and be detected for a relatively long period of time when compared to other controlled substances. Once it is stored in the fatty tissues of various organs, THC is slowly released and metabolized by the body. The metabolites (byproducts of the drug after it has run its course throughout the body) of THC are then excreted and cleared from the body; these metabolites of THC (specifically 9-carboxy-THC) are detectable for a much longer period of time than THC is, and this is the reason why most drug toxicology tests look for the metablolites of THC rather than the THC itself.

As pointed out earlier, marijuana's effects on the body and the speed at which it leaves the body (the detection time) is dependent on many variables, but especially on the strength or potency of the marijuana (the amount of THC contained in the plant). It has been estimated that marijuana can have a half-life

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