Some correlates of marihuana self-administration in man: A study of titration of intake as a function of drug potency

✍ Scribed by Howard Cappell; Eva Kuchar; C. D. Webster

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1973
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 517 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3158
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00414031

✦ Synopsis

Previous research has suggested that psychosocial rather than strictly pharmacological factors may play a dominant role in the subjective response to "socially relevant" (i.e., low) doses of marihuana. The insensitivity of experienced marihuana users to pharmacological factors was studied in an ad lib self-administration situation. Subjects tested repeatedly with varying drug potencies were asked to smoke a sufficient amount to achieve a predefined subjective state of intoxication. Several indices of amount consumed suggested that effective titration of intake did not occur. Rather, subjects consumed more total THC the greater the potency of the material. Doses which produced a subjectively "optimal high" had significant behavioral and physiological effects. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that psychosocial variables may be more significant than pharmacological variables in determining the recreational intake of marihuana.