New York, NY: Consumers adjust their cannabis intake based upon product potency, according to the findings of a scientific review paper published in the journal Preventive Medicine.
Researchers with New York University and Columbia University assessed data from laboratory studies involving human subjects’ use of botanical cannabis. They reported that study participants consistently modified their cannabis intake based upon the strength of the product they were consuming.
“Consumers adjust their inhalation patterns to achieve a desired subjective effect,” the study’s authors concluded. “For example, participants dose-dependently inhaled less cannabis as the amount of active cannabis increased.”
This self-regulatory behavior is defined as titration.
NORML has consistently pushed back against the imposition of arbitrary THC potency limits on state-legal cannabis products, arguing that consumers distinguish between higher-potency and lower-potency cannabis products and moderate their consumption accordingly.
“Higher THC products, like hashish, are hardly a new phenomenon. Typically, when consumers encounter higher-potency products, they consume lesser quantities of them,” wrote NORML’s Deputy Director in a recent op-ed. “Prohibiting adults from accessing these products from state-licensed retailers will not eliminate consumers’ demand for them. Rather, it will encourage consumers to seek out higher-THC products in the unregulated market. It will also move the production of these products exclusively underground. This undermines the primary goal of legalization, which is to provide patients with safe, above-ground access to lab-tested products of known purity, potency, and quality.”
Full text of the study, “Human behavioral pharmacology of cannabis: insights on cannabis use disorder,” appears in Preventive Medicine. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘THC Potency Concerns: Are Stronger Products More Problematic?‘