TY - JOUR
T1 - A Crowdsourcing Survey Study on the Subjective Effects of Delta-8-Tetrahydrocannabinol Relative to Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol and Cannabidiol
AU - Bergeria, Cecilia L.
AU - Strickland, Justin C.
AU - Spindle, Tory R.
AU - Kalaba, Maja
AU - Satyavolu, Prem Umang
AU - Feldner, Matthew
AU - Vandrey, Ryan
AU - Bonn-Miller, Marcel
AU - Peters, Erica N.
AU - Weerts, Elise
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by funding from Canopy Growth Corporation. The funding agency was involved in study design and reviewed and edited the report prior to submission. Dr. Cecilia Bergeria is the principal investigator for the research reported on in this manuscript. Dr. Bergeria has consulted with Health Advances. Dr. Elise Weerts is a coinvestigator for the research reported on in this manuscript. Dr. Tory Spindle has consulted with Canopy Growth Corporation. Dr. Vandrey has served as a paid consultant on an advisory board for Canopy Growth Corporation, MyMD Pharmaceuticals, Syqe Medical Ltd., Radicle Science Inc., and Greenwich Biosciences Inc. Ms. Maja Kalaba, Dr. Matthew Feldner, Dr. Marcel Bonn-Biller, and Dr. Erica Peters are employees of Canopy Growth Corporation. Dr. Justin Strickland and Ms. Prem Umang Satyavolu have no conflicts of interest to disclose. All authors contributed in a significant way to the manuscript and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript. This study was not preregistered. All data are available upon request by emailing the corresponding author. These data have not been presented elsewhere including at conferences, listservs, or websites.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Psychological Association
PY - 2022/4/25
Y1 - 2022/4/25
N2 - Delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC) has emerged as a new retail cannabinoid product in the U.S. This study queried Δ8-THC users about product use characteristics and self-reported drug effects. Participants were recruited via a large online crowdsourcing platform (AmazonMechanical Turk). Adults (N = 252) with past year Δ8-THC use (35% with at least weekly use) completed surveys and open-ended questions related to their reasons for using and past experiences with Δ8-THC-containing retail products. Participants with past year use of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and/or cannabidiol (CBD; 81% and 63%) compared the effects of Δ8-THC to those of Δ9-THC and/or CBD by rating drug effects on a visual analog scale from −50 to +50 where negative scores indicated Δ8-THC effects are weaker, positive scores indicated Δ8-THC effects are stronger, and a score of 0 indicated equal effects to Δ9-THC or CBD. Compared to Δ9-THC, self-reported ratings for “Drug effect,” “Bad effect,” “Sick,” “Anxiety,” “Paranoia,” “Irritability,” “Restlessness,” “Memory Problems,” and “Trouble Performing Routine Tasks” were lower for Δ8-THC (d = −0.21 to −0.44). Compared to CBD, ratings for Δ8-THC effects were higher for “Drug effect,” “Good effect,” “High,” “Relaxed,” “Sleepy,” “Hunger/Have the Munchies,” “Memory Problems,” “Trouble Performing Routine Tasks,” and “Paranoia” (d = 0.27–1.02). Qualitative responses indicated that participants used Δ8-THC because it is perceived as (a) legal, (b) a substitute or similar to Δ9-THC, and/or (c) less intense than Δ9-THC. Δ8-THC is an understudied psychoactive component of cannabis that shares more characteristics with Δ9-THC than CBD and should be characterized further with human laboratory studies.
AB - Delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC) has emerged as a new retail cannabinoid product in the U.S. This study queried Δ8-THC users about product use characteristics and self-reported drug effects. Participants were recruited via a large online crowdsourcing platform (AmazonMechanical Turk). Adults (N = 252) with past year Δ8-THC use (35% with at least weekly use) completed surveys and open-ended questions related to their reasons for using and past experiences with Δ8-THC-containing retail products. Participants with past year use of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and/or cannabidiol (CBD; 81% and 63%) compared the effects of Δ8-THC to those of Δ9-THC and/or CBD by rating drug effects on a visual analog scale from −50 to +50 where negative scores indicated Δ8-THC effects are weaker, positive scores indicated Δ8-THC effects are stronger, and a score of 0 indicated equal effects to Δ9-THC or CBD. Compared to Δ9-THC, self-reported ratings for “Drug effect,” “Bad effect,” “Sick,” “Anxiety,” “Paranoia,” “Irritability,” “Restlessness,” “Memory Problems,” and “Trouble Performing Routine Tasks” were lower for Δ8-THC (d = −0.21 to −0.44). Compared to CBD, ratings for Δ8-THC effects were higher for “Drug effect,” “Good effect,” “High,” “Relaxed,” “Sleepy,” “Hunger/Have the Munchies,” “Memory Problems,” “Trouble Performing Routine Tasks,” and “Paranoia” (d = 0.27–1.02). Qualitative responses indicated that participants used Δ8-THC because it is perceived as (a) legal, (b) a substitute or similar to Δ9-THC, and/or (c) less intense than Δ9-THC. Δ8-THC is an understudied psychoactive component of cannabis that shares more characteristics with Δ9-THC than CBD and should be characterized further with human laboratory studies.
KW - delta-8-THC
KW - delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol
KW - subjective effects
KW - survey study
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U2 - 10.1037/pha0000565
DO - 10.1037/pha0000565
M3 - Article
C2 - 35467921
AN - SCOPUS:85130788823
SN - 1064-1297
VL - 31
SP - 312
EP - 317
JO - Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
JF - Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
IS - 2
ER -