Marijuana effects by dose

[peterb]

This is the kind of overlooked detail that makes the “It’s safe!” and It’s dangerous!” folks talk past each other.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...t-health-risks

THC can have opposite effects on our bodies at high and low doses, Volkow says. Take anxiety levels, for example.

..."When someone takes marijuana at a low [THC] content to relax and to stone out, actually, it decreases your anxiety," she says. But high concentrations can cause panic attacks, and if someone consumes high-enough levels of THC, "you become full-blown psychotic and paranoid."

Weed can have a similar paradoxical effect on the vascular system. Volkow says: "If you take low-content THC it will increase your blood flow, but high content [THC] can produce massive vasoconstriction, it decreases the flow through the vessels."...

[TiroFijo]

Now that some states have legal marijuana, and other places zero tolerance for alcohol while driving: do states with legalized MJ have practical, cheap, fast routine tests for THC levels in blood?

Alcohol you can measure with the breath analyzer, easy peasy. But for MJ you need a chemical spit test, much more expensive and slower, and I don't know if it is readiliy available everywhere and how accurate it is for the level of intoxication.

[1911nerd]

Now that some states have legal marijuana, and other places zero tolerance for alcohol while driving: do states with legalized MJ have practical, cheap, fast routine tests for THC levels in blood?

Alcohol you can measure with the breath analyzer, easy peasy. But for MJ you need a chemical spit test, much more expensive and slower, and I don't know if it is readiliy available everywhere and how accurate it is for the level of intoxication.

Even for alcohol, the breathalyzer is not really measuring the right thing -- it measures metabolites as a proxy for impairment rather than impairment itself. My understanding is that there is a similar, but worse problem with measuring impairment for THC. There has been significant progress in direct measurement of impairment, which also handles things like driving tired. As far as I know, commercialization of that technology is in its infancy and adoption would require changes to state laws.

[ssb]

Now that some states have legal marijuana, and other places zero tolerance for alcohol while driving: do states with legalized MJ have practical, cheap, fast routine tests for THC levels in blood?

Alcohol you can measure with the breath analyzer, easy peasy. But for MJ you need a chemical spit test, much more expensive and slower, and I don't know if it is readiliy available everywhere and how accurate it is for the level of intoxication.

Short answer: no.

Not quite the answer you were looking for: On a blood test, I will see delta-9 THC, THC-OH, and THC-OOH (inactive metabolite -- indicates recent use). Results take several months to receive due to the backlog of samples for testing. I'm not aware of any currently viable roadside test for it.

Once you have toxicology, the question then becomes "how much delta-9 THC (or really, any other drug) does it take to impair?" There are a variety of factors which affect actual impairment with drugs (tolerance being a major one) and the toxicology alone doesn't tell the whole story -- that's why on drug-impaired DUI cases, prosecutors are trained to view them as a three-legged stool of toxicology, observed driving, and physical signs of impairment. There isn't currently a scientific consensus on how much delta-9 THC impairs, as there haven't been long-term, validated tests on its cognitive impairment (unlike alcohol, whose effects are thoroughly studied and generally accepted).

Colorado has addressed the issue somewhat with a per se impairment for drivers of 5 ng/ml for delta-9 THC, but there's a pretty vehement opposition to that among segments of the toxicology community.

[Baldanders]

Besides the blood test issue, the fact that receptor sites for cannibinoids down-regulate very rapidly with chronic use makes setting an intoxication limit by absolute consumption rates completely unreliable, as stated above. What might affect a regular user like one beer would affect a daily drinker could be enough to make a first time user hallucinate, have severe panic reactions, etc.

I think we will see quick blood tests eventually, but a "video game" test of reaction time would probably be a more useful tool. It would also catch folks too sleep-deprived to safely drive, those intoxicated on substances that are never tested for (antihistamines come to mind), and many other drivers who shouldn't be behind the wheel.

The real solution is probably driverless cars. I don't think a test for LSD is even physically possible, and I have a feeling that the legalization of psilocybin mushrooms in Denver is the first step in seeing most psychedelic drugs legalized. DIY direct brain stimulation seems a possibility, and if we ever see "Drouds" (a la Niven), then we will probably look back on mass drug abuse as "the good old days." Although I'm not sure having your reward center "lit up" actually impairs the ability to operate heavy machinery. I can't see a way you could test to see if an "unplugged wirehead" had just been using or not.

[Thy.Will.Be.Done]

I am so glad you posted this, unfortunately everyone is being lied to about the safety and benefits of marijuana. Our nation had it right all along, this drug is capable of great harm in many different ways.

Here is an excellent article on... MARIJUANA, MENTAL ILLNESS AND VIOLENCE

https://drlwilson.com/Articles/CANNABIS.VIOLENCE.htm

Another from the same website but a different author (dr. Lawrence Wilson), entitled MEDICAL OR RECREATIONAL POT - A BAD DRUG

https://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/CANNABIS.htm

Please share these articles with anyone you may know that is in any way involved with this terrible drug so that they can hear the truth on this matter. It is becoming a very serious situation in this nation as recreational use skyrockets because people have been brainwashed to think it's safe and helpful.

Also, I highly recommend Dr. Wilson's website in general as not only a great source of information (some of which is highly controversial), but also as a healing program that he has been using called "Nutritional Balancing' which has been studied extensively over 40 year period using hair mineral analysis as a guide.

[Casual Friday]

I am so glad you posted this, unfortunately everyone is being lied to about the safety and benefits of marijuana. Our nation had it right all along, this drug is capable of great harm in many different ways.

Here is an excellent article on... MARIJUANA, MENTAL ILLNESS AND VIOLENCE

https://drlwilson.com/Articles/CANNABIS.VIOLENCE.htm

Another from the same website but a different author (dr. Lawrence Wilson), entitled MEDICAL OR RECREATIONAL POT - A BAD DRUG

https://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/CANNABIS.htm

Please share these articles with anyone you may know that is in any way involved with this terrible drug so that they can hear the truth on this matter. It is becoming a very serious situation in this nation as recreational use skyrockets because people have been brainwashed to think it's safe and helpful.

Also, I highly recommend Dr. Wilson's website in general as not only a great source of information (some of which is highly controversial), but also as a healing program that he has been using called "Nutritional Balancing' which has been studied extensively over 40 year period using hair mineral analysis as a guide.

Bruh, tell this dude to get a website that doesn't look it came from the same decade the Dallas Cowboys last won a Superbowl in.

[peterb]

I didn’t post that to demonize pot. I just thought it was a good reality check for folks like me whose impressions of marijuana use are several decades out of date. The last time I hung out with people smoking was in the 80s — folks just passing around a joint or bong and getting classically stoned — so when I hear pot described in “Reefer Madness” apocalyptic terms I tend to laugh. The new high-potency stuff sounds like a whole different critter.

Legalization? I guess I’m still thinking “no harm, no foul”, and if an adult wants to relax at home with a joint on a Friday night they shouldn’t have to worry about getting their door kicked in. But there are issues like measuring impairment that don’t have good answers yet, and calling marijuana “harmless” is clearly false.

[Thy.Will.Be.Done]

Bruh, tell this dude to get a website that doesn't look it came from the same decade the Dallas Cowboys last won a Superbowl in.

It is intended to be plain, because their only interest is in helping people and nothing more. You will not find a single advertisement on his website and his organization (Center For Development) is not for profit. Flashy websites are used for cashflow and possibly other reasons, typically.

[breakingtime91]

While there are risks for marijuana use for adolescents, the risk for a mature adult is much less. There are positive and negatives to every substance. I know of atleast three decorated veterans who are using medical marijuana to deal with symptoms of ptsd, TBI, and sleep issues. Like any issue, there are two sides to this coin. The idea that pain meds (opiates) or alcohol is somehow better is pretty narrow sighted in the scheme of health issues and addiction.