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Cannabis-based medicines given in a highly-controlled clinical environment unexpectedly lead to strong psychotic effects -

Volunteers taking cannabis-based therapeutic drugs as part of a controlled trial, which had been approved by an ethics board as safe for the subjects, experienced psychotic effects just as strong as if they had smoked cannabis. These findings, highly unexpected in such a controlled environment, are published today in the peer-reviewed, Open Access journal BMC Psychiatry.

Dr Bernard Favrat and colleagues, from the Institut Universitaire de Medecine Legale in Switzerland, were conducting a clinical trial into the effects of orally administered delta-9-tetrahydrocannibol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis, when two of their male subjects experienced impaired psychomotor functions and severe anxiety typical of cannabis-induced psychosis.

When smoking cannabis, the effects of THC on psychomotor functions usually start once the concentration in the blood has reached 10ng/ml plasma. The trial should have been safe as the subjects were given low doses of THC and had much lower concentrations in their blood. However the two male subjects experienced their reactions with blood concentrations of 4.7ng/ml and 6.2 ng/ml, respectively.

Favrat and colleagues found that both subjects reported severe anxiety and impaired psychomotor functions. Other effects included transient symptoms of derealisation and depersonalisation, and paranoid delusions. They were described by one subject as worse than those experienced after smoking cannabis. One subject was given dronabinol, a synthetic THC that has been in medical use in the USA since 1985. The other subject was asked to drink a decoction of natural THC. The authors hypothesise that the effect may have been because the THC had been ingested, rather than inhaled; digesting THC may produce potent THC metabolites, which induce psychotic effects.

Research into designing THC-based medications has boomed in the last few years, due to the many therapeutic effects of THC. These drugs could be used to alleviate muscle spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients, restore appetite in AIDS patients and alleviate pain and nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Such research has to be approved to ensure that it is treating patients ethically and safely. Dr Favrat's research had been approved, which makes the findings even more unexpected.

Favrat and colleagues' report adds to the body of evidence that cannabis might be more harmful than previously thought. In the UK, cannabis was downgraded to class C early last year, but government officials have called for a review of the decision following a series of studies revealing that cannabis dramatically increases the risk of developing mental illnesses.

After publication this article is available free of charge, according to BMC Psychiatry's Open Access policy at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/5/17

BMC Psychiatry publishes articles on all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders, as well as related molecular genetics, pathophysiology, and epidemiology.

BMC Psychiatry is published by BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com), an independent online publishing house committed to providing Open Access to peer-reviewed biological and medical research. This commitment is based on the view that immediate free access to research and the ability to freely archive and reuse published information is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science.

BioMed Central currently publishes over 100 journals across biology and medicine. In addition to open-access original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews, commentaries and other non-original-research contributors.

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grillmeats

I like the idea of it working on muscle spasims. I have those quite often, they are started by stress. The doctor gave me Valuim. I try not to take them too much.

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I use to like this site, but it out grew my interests. If you want to pass a test, Quit Smoking, I have!

Buzzby

If you equate the normal effects of getting high with psychosis then you've drawn your conclusions before getting the evidence. This is typical of the prohibitionist establishment. "We know marijuana is evil. Now let's cook up some evidence to prove it."


Anyone reading the literature for the last 35 years knows that set and setting are as important as direct drug effects when using marijuana. If you smoke out in the park on a beautiful day you'll have a great time. If you are administered drugs in a clinical setting while under observation you're likely to experience paranoia - but only for the duration of the drug's effects.


Seek and Ye shall find - exactly what you expect to find. They set up a paranoia-producing situation and - Surprise! - people got paranoid.

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frolic

How do we judge this type of experiment. Let us look at the evidence.
First who: "two of their male subjects"
two of how many? What was the group? What of the control group subjects?
Second, what did they actually get? Answer: "synthetic oral THC." 20 mg dronabinol (MarinolR)
Is there a difference between and smokeable THC:
"the oral route of administration achieves only limited blood concentrations,"
some interesting manifestations of oral administration of marijuana is the low marked evidence in blood test. This occurs as the process of digestion is not immediate. While the accumulation is low in the blood, the receptors in the brain are maxed as the supply is steady. Timed therapy is how they best manage diabetes a slow administration of glucose conversion hormones.
However, due to the changes in our environment from one minute to another and the stress - transient state of arousal we experience everyday of our lives; As Buzzby states, "If you smoke out in the park on a beautiful day you'll have a great time. If you are administered drugs in a clinical setting while under observation you're likely to experience paranoia - but only for the duration of the drug's effects." As many of the smokers reading this can testify - I've had the noids (paranoia). I was in L.A. county lockup tokin the 22nd psalm.

Without further analysis we, as could and would a review panel, question the validity of a study. This research has real design problems.