“These findings provide support for the idea that legal cannabis can serve as substitute for alcohol among certain individuals, and that legal cannabis markets may, in some instances, disrupt alcohol-dominant marketplaces.”
Tag: THC
“These results affirm the longstanding experiences of patients, many of whom either reduce or eliminate their use of opioids after initiating cannabis therapy because they perceive cannabis to be a safer and more effective alternative.”
“Initiation of THC-dominant medicinal cannabis was associated with acute reductions in anxiety and depression, and sustained reductions in overall symptom severity over a 6-month period,” researchers reported.
Unlike alcohol (which is readily available in a variety of potencies, including highly-potent formulations like grain alcohol and absinthe), THC is incapable of causing lethal overdose — regardless of its potency or the quantity consumed.
Provisions in the bill open the program to those suffering from chronic pain, among other newly eligible conditions. It also expands the variety of cannabis formulations that may be possessed by patients and significantly increases total number of state-licensed dispensaries that can operate in the state.
“Prohibiting these products doesn’t eliminate consumers’ demand for them. Rather, it encourages consumers to seek them out from the unregulated market — thereby undermining the primary goal of legalization, which is to provide consumers with safe, above-ground access to lab-tested products of known purity, potency, and quality.”
Republican-backed legislative efforts to impose arbitrary THC potency caps on certain cannabis products are likely dead for the session.
Authors reported that patients administered oral THC experienced a “nine-fold greater reduction in opioid consumption” compared to controls.