Psychotic Skunk?

Chris Kaplan
skunk_weed.jpg

New research in marijuana cultivation has pointed to a link between the absence of the cannabidol compound (CBD) in certain strains of skunk weed and the development of psychosis. The elimination of CBD through selective breeding increases the THC content, which may play a key role in the development of psychosis. Studies on the role of these two compounds have shown that "pure synthetic THC causes transient psychosis in 40 to 50 percent of healthy people. In stark contrast to THC, CBD appears to have an anti-psychotic effect."

A study by the Institute of Psychiatry in London, which was published by Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers used "functional MRI brain scanning to study the effects of THC and CBD on the brains of healthy volunteers. They found that THC and CBD acted in opposition; in brain regions where THC increased neural activity from baseline, CBD decreased." Further studies showed that the inverse was also true--an increase in CBD meant a decrease in THC.

An additional study compared the effects of a mix of synthetic THC and CBD with THC on its own. The molecules were given intravenously, and the subjects were given the same dose of THC, the only difference being those that received the CBD balancer. After thirty minutes, the subjects were interviewed, and researchers found that those given both the THC and CBD formula were significantly less psychotic than those given THC alone.

These studies raise important questions about the potential for marijuana strain refinement, but also as to whether or not CBD's can be made into a useful antipsychotic on their own. The Beckley Foundation is setting up a research project that "will analyze different strains of cannabis for their THC and CBD content," in hopes of spreading more awareness about safe marijuana strains.   The Foundation sees this issue as another example for the need to regulate the recreational cannabis market in order to prevent possible harmful effects caused by the skunk strain--the dominance of which is a result of the illegal drug markets' tendency towards higher potencies.

Image: "Haze" by Fabim_2007 on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.

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Comments

Playing with Mother Nature

Submitted by Pippalayana on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:10.

Wanting only the "good" fruit ... takes one out of Eden

Tree of Life versus Tree of Knowledge.

All designer "highs" / "lows" will ultimately face this same principled dilema.

Just how "wrong" can nature be

Sign me up for that study! :)

Submitted by Jonathan Talat Phillips on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 14:34.
Sign me up for that study! :)

I'm schizophrenic

Submitted by Japer2012 on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 17:24.
I noticed that my schizophrenia becomes very intense when I smoke for long periods of time. That's why I can only smoke for a month at a time followed by a month break. I imagine that some skunk would turn me into more of a lunatic than I already am, which I have no problem with because everyday is a hallucination for me. This should be good a stern argument for legalization and regulation. The government would probably care less though putting the responsibility on the people to make the decision to smoke psycho pot or not. Pot was not the cause of my schizophrenia, but it accelerated it. Makes for some crazy artwork though :). "in order for there to be order... there must first be disorder"

Hmmm...

Submitted by Bark on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 00:58.

So skunk would be plants grown to be mostly sativa, I'm guessing? No one here calls it that, so I'm not sure...

where am I?

Submitted by Marcus on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 11:49.
Did I go to the foxnews site by accident? "significantly less psychotic" I love doctor speak

ummm..

Submitted by elation on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 23:49.
the original skunk from the 70's was a cross between Afghani Indica, an 'Acapulco Gold' Mexican Sativa, and a Columbian Gold Sativa, so there should some cbd in there mostdef. these days there are many skunks out there(alot more indica hybrids), but i don't think any of em are pure sativas. regardless wherever they got this skunk it apparently has no cbds. "The Foundation sees this issue as another example for the need to regulate the recreational cannabis market in order to prevent possible harmful effects caused by the skunk strain" there are tons of strains with high thc, and most have cbds as well. i'm wondering if they'd want to regulate all purer sativas though... and they're just talking about one "popular" strain. cbds as antipsychotics sounds interesting and in need of research.

Colombia

Submitted by SebG on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 00:30.

Just a side note, I'm Colombian, thus this matters to me.

It's spelled with an o, not a u.

Interesting

Submitted by popadoodle on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 04:19.

I saw the program 'how drugs work - cannabis' which featured this research - but don't remember that percentage. I should cut down on the skunk, clearly.

Dope smoker

THC/CBD ratio

Submitted by tafkao on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 22:48.
I had read somewhere that the later a plant of either strain is harvested, the more THC has been converted to CBD (cannabidiol), which is has antipsychotic properties. I imagine one of the reasons more recent commercial product has increased paranoid/psychotic effects is because of commercial growers being in a hurry to harvest. It's not as if they care how it will affect the end user.

Monoculture

Submitted by JAI88 on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 08:43.
This is another example of monoculture. It is found in agribusiness (e.g., McDonald's subsidizing one species of potato) and it is now found in the pot market. Clearly this is a problem of balance, a balance likely to be remedied if pot and hemp were legalized. Even as they are illegal and only legal for medicinal purposes, we should learn that when you isolate nature into a corner, the results are never prime. To be honest, I find no reason pot needs to be this potent; it's a very capitalistic approach. Less specialization of strains would help. Let's be honest: Yeah, there are slight differences in effects but good weed is good weed. All this "variety" smells like the variety of a chinese restaurant's menu which is really none at all and leading to psychosis. Bad analogy, but you get the idea.

THC/CBD

Submitted by latinuss on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 13:18.
Nice article...was still wondering how that all work. I live in Holland so I guess I cant complain about the availability but still will have to make an effort to search for a good weed...everything they sell in potent in THC!

Cannabidiol

Submitted by rw3 on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 02:12.
I've pondered this as well. Perhaps growers could start doing a more balanced growing method. Until then, I have a theory that if you use organic hemp oil and ingest it with the cannabis orally or through skin it could help balance out and prevent the schizo factor. It makes sense to me. I ordered some 2 days ago and will report back to see how it goes. Hemp Seed Oil has Cannabidiol the necessary other ingredient in hemp that is non psychoactive. Also, hemp seeds have Vitamin B12. I am vegan and I was looking for alternatives to taking pills and chlorella was one, but HEMP SEEDS were the other.

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People who smoke potent

Submitted by smith099 on Tue, 02/07/2012 - 05:57.
People who smoke potent skunk are more at risk of psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia than those who use other types of cannabis, scientists suspect. med school personal statement