Marijuana Moment: High Doses Of THC From Cannabis Can Produce ‘Psychedelic-Like States,’ Study Shows

[Tokeativity]

High doses of THC from marijuana may have psychoactive effects that are hard to distinguish from those caused by the psychedelic psilocybin, according to a new study.

The results, researchers said, could have implications for future clinical trials of psychedelics by helping to address the problem of “unblinding” where participants are able to tell whether they have received the drug being tested, a place or a comparator substance. That issued could potentially be avoided by administering cannabis products to participants in the non-psychedelic control group, the new paper indicates.

The study, conducted by researchers with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, involved four adults who underwent three or four sessions during which they were given either 25 milligrams of psilocybin, 25 milligrams of THC, 50 milligrams of THC or a placebo. The THC was administered either as a synthetic (dronabinol) or a whole-plant cannabis distillate extract.

Participants were told that ketamine, dextromethorphan, (DMT) and (MDMA) could also be administered, but they weren’t actually used during the study. Both the participants and the facilitators of their sessions were blinded to what was actually received at the time, and they were asked to guess afterwards.

Every participant was able to correctly guess when they had received a placebo or when they had received the real psychedelic. However, “the 25 mg dronabinol condition was rated as more similar to a classic psychedelic or dissociative than a cannabinoid, while the 50 mg distillate condition was perceived as predominantly sedative- or dissociative-like, but also moderately like a classic psychedelic by the one participant who received it,” the researchers wrote.

“Both participants that received distillate correctly identified the 25 mg Δ9-THC dose as most similar to a cannabinoid and the participant that received the 50 mg Δ9-THC dose of distillate indicated that the drug was most similar to either a sedative or dissociative drug, with moderate similarity to a classic psychedelic, but rating the drug as having no similarity to a cannabinoid… While one participant with prior psychedelic use history rated 25 mg THC (distillate) as most similar to a cannabinoid, the other participant with prior psychedelic use history rated 25 mg THC (dronabinol) as most similar to a dissociative or psychedelic, suggesting that prior psychedelic use history alone did not completely determine subjective experience, blinding, or drug similarity assessments.”

The whole-plant cannabis distillate extract of THC was rated by participants as having “a stronger overall subjective drug effect than equivalent doses” of the synthetic dronabinol, the paper, published in the journal Psychopharmacology, said.

“25 mg Δ9-THC in both forms yielded a subjective experience similar to 25 mg psilocybin.”

Prior experience with psychedelics “did not appear to significantly impact” participants’ being able to correctly differentiate the effects of cannabis and psilocybin, the researchers said.

“These preliminary data suggest that a 25 mg oral dose of pure, synthetic Δ9-THC can be mistaken for a classic hallucinogen, and that oral Δ9-THC can elicit a psychedelic-like experience under set and setting conditions of a typical psychedelic clinical trial,” the study said.

The researchers said that comparators used in psychedelic clinical trials to date “generally fail to preserve the blinding of drug administration due to the unique nature of psychedelic drug effects, including ‘mystical-type’ experiences.” The current results suggest that “an appropriate dose of Δ9-THC may provide an adequate active comparator condition for ongoing psychedelic clinical trials,” they said.

The study was designed to mimic the set and setting in which psychedelic research is typically carried out. Participants laid on a couch, wore eye shades, listened to music and were told to “turn inward and be present for whatever arises within consciousness.”

“High-dose cannabis can produce psychedelic-like states.”

The general lack of ability of some participants to distinguish between the effects of the substances tested demonstrates that “Δ9-THC can produce substantial alterations in consciousness under optimized set and setting and may offer a viable component in the development of improved active-control conditions in psychedelic research,” the researchers wrote.

“This pilot investigation provides preliminary evidence that oral Δ9-THC, when administered under the set and setting conditions of a typical psychedelic clinical trial, can occasion subjective effects with phenomenological overlap with those of psilocybin. Subjective effects and blinding outcomes indicate that an appropriate dose of THC may partially reduce functional unblinding relative to placebo and other active comparators in randomized clinical trials.”

The study was funded by the Wana Brand Foundation, which was launched by the CEO of the cannabis company Wana Brands.

Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.

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