Placebo Effects of Edible Cannabis: Reported Intoxication Effects at a 30-Minute Delay
Mallory Loflin, Mitch Earleywine, Stacey Farmer, Melissa N. Slavin, Rachel Luba, Marcel O Bonn-Miller
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs August 3, 2017 DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2017.1354409 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Within-subjects experimental design Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Participants |
| Intervention | placebo lollipop |
| Duration | 60 minutes post-ingestion |
| Topics | Cannabis CBD |
| Keywords | Placebo Mood Analysis of variance Repeated measures design Effects of cannabis Dronabinol Anesthesia Cannabinoid |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key findings | A placebo effect can be induced with inert edible agents when participants are told they are receiving active THC. |
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated the ability of non-active smoked cannabis cigarettes to induce subjective effects of intoxication (i.e., placebo effect). No studies have been conduced to test whether edible forms of cannabis, which are associated with a significant delay in onset of effect, are able to induce a placebo effect. In the present study, 20 participants were told that they would receive an edible cannabis lollipop containing a high dose of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but were instead given a placebo control. Measures of intoxication and mood were taken at baseline, 30 minutes, and 60 minutes post-ingestion of the placebo lollipop. Results of four repeated-measures ANOVAs found significant and quadratic changes across time in cannabis (ARCI m-scale) intoxication (F(2,18) = 4.90, p = .01, η2 = .22) and negative mood (F(2,18) = 3.99, p = .05, η2 = .19). Changes in positive mood and the overall measure of general intoxication (ARCI) failed to reach significance. The present study provides preliminary evidence that a placebo effect can be induced with inert edible agents when participants are told that they are receiving active THC. This is the first known study to demonstrate an edible cannabis intoxication placebo effect.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on cannabis, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoked Cannabis' Psychomotor and Neurocognitive Effects in Occasional and Frequent Smokers Occasional (<2x/week) and frequent (≥4x/week) cannabis smokers | 2015 | Controlled within-subjects study | n = 25 |
| Dissociable effects of cannabis with and without cannabidiol on the human brain’s resting-state functional connectivity Healthy volunteers experienced with cannabis but not regular users | 2019 | Within-subjects experimental design | n = 17 |
| Which biological and self-report measures of cannabis use predict cannabis dependency and acute psychotic-like effects? Young cannabis users | 2018 | Observational study (naturalistic, within-subject counterbalanced design) | n = 410 |
| Cannabis Essential Oil: A Preliminary Study for the Evaluation of the Brain Effects Healthy volunteers | 2018 | Experimental study | n = 5 |
| Coming off cannabis: a cognitive and magnetic resonance imaging study in patients with multiple sclerosis Patients with multiple sclerosis who began using cannabis after disease onset, used it... | 2019 | Quasi-experimental study with odd-even allocation | n = 40 |