Acute effects of naturalistic THC vs. CBD use on recognition memory: a preliminary study
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Journal of Cannabis Research
(2020) 2:28
BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT
Open Access
Acute effects of naturalistic THC vs. CBD use on recognition memory: a preliminary study Tim Curran1* , Hélène Devillez2, Sophie L. YorkWilliams2 and L. Cinnamon Bidwell3
Abstract The ratio of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to cannabidiol (CBD) varies widely across cannabis strains. CBD has opposite effects to THC on a variety of cognitive functions, including acute THC-induced memory impairments. However, additional data are needed, especially under naturalistic conditions with higher potency forms of cannabis, commonly available in legal markets. The goal of this study was to collect preliminary data on the acute effects of different THC:CBD ratios on memory testing in a brief verbal recognition task under naturalistic conditions, using legal-market Colorado dispensary products. Thirty-two regular cannabis users consumed cannabis of differing THC and CBD levels purchased from a dispensary and were assessed via blood draw and a verbal recognition memory test both before (pretest) and after (posttest) ad libitum home administration in a mobile laboratory. Memory accuracy decreased as post-use THC blood levels increased (n = 29), whereas performance showed no relationship to CBD blood levels. When controlling for post-use THC blood levels as a covariate, participants using primarily THC-based strains showed significantly worse memory accuracy post-use, whereas subjects using strains containing both THC and CBD showed no differences between pre- and post-use memory performance. Using a brief and sensitive verbal recognition task, our study demonstrated that naturalistic, acute THC use impairs memory in a dose dependent manner, whereas the combination of CBD and THC was not associated with impairment. Keywords: Marijuana, Cannabis, Cannabinoids, Episodic memory, Verbal memory
Introduction Cannabis produces acute memory impairment during intoxication (Bossong et al. 2014; Broyd et al. 2016; Lundqvist 2005; Ranganathan and D’Souza 2006), although regular users may not show these acute decrements in performance (Ranganathan and D’Souza 2006; Schoeler and Bhattacharyya 2013). Cannabis contains many cannabinoids that may have differential effects on memory. Overall, research studies have not sufficiently considered the fact that cannabis exists in different forms and have not characterized the effects of cannabis * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, UCB 345, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
as the compound action of different cannabinoids that vary in terms of their pharmacological effects. Two of the primary cannabinoids, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), have some opposing effects (Osborne et al. 2017; Rømer Thomsen et al. 2017; Zhornitsky and Potvin 2012), and the ratio of THC to CBD varies dramatically among different strains of cannabis, with some strains in Colorado testing
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