Pharmacodynamic dose effects of oral cannabis ingestion in healthy adults who infrequently use cannabis

Summary & key facts

Researchers gave different amounts of oral cannabis (edibles) to healthy adults who rarely used cannabis. They watched how people felt, measured heart rate and blood, and tested thinking and coordination. Bigger doses made people feel more “high,” raised heart rate, and slowed thinking and coordination. The strongest effects showed up a few hours after eating and lasted for many hours. Blood levels of THC did not reliably match how impaired people were. This shows that edibles act slowly, can produce long-lasting effects even in people who don’t use often, and that blood tests may not tell you how impaired someone feels or performs.

Key facts:

• The study tested multiple oral doses of cannabis in healthy adults who rarely used cannabis, rather than regular users.
• Higher doses led to larger increases in people’s self-reported intoxication — people felt more “high” after bigger doses.
• Higher doses also raised heart rate and caused measurable drops in thinking speed, memory, and motor coordination on tests.
• The peak effects occurred a few hours after eating the cannabis and continued for several hours afterward, rather than happening immediately.
• Measured blood levels of THC were relatively low compared with smoked cannabis and did not consistently predict how impaired someone felt or how they performed on tests.
• Even people who rarely use cannabis showed clear and sometimes strong effects from oral cannabis, especially at the higher doses tested.

Topics

Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Psychedelics and Drug Studies Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Pharmacology

Tags

Cannabidiol Cannabinoid Cannabis Dronabinol Effects of cannabis Ingestion Internal medicine Medicine Pharmacodynamics Pharmacokinetics Pharmacology Psychiatry Receptor

Substances

Cannabis

Conditions & symptoms

Difficulty focusing