THC Has the Same Right to Medical Use as CBD

THC has the right to be used in medicine just like CBD. According to a study by the University of New Mexico, THC is much more effective than CBD for relieving certain symptoms, such as nausea.

Cannabis contains hundreds of active compounds, but the most well-known (and the only ones most people have heard of) are, of course, THC and CBD. Although state medical cannabis laws provide equal access to both, the common belief in recent years has been: “THC is the molecule that gets you high, while CBD is non-psychoactive and promotes healing.”

And since CBD is legal at the federal level, but THC is not, some circles have taken this idea even further: “THC is for fun, CBD is for medicine.” Some CBD-focused cannabis companies have even received warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for making outrageous claims.

However, a recent study shows that this attitude toward cannabinoids is fundamentally incorrect: THC also has therapeutic potential, and people using cannabis to relieve nausea need more THC and less CBD.

About the Study

This study, which compared the most well-known cannabinoids, was conducted by the University of New Mexico and was called “the largest study of its kind.”

Researchers asked cannabis users to use a special app to report which cannabis products they used, which symptoms they hoped to relieve, and then describe their experiences in real time.

The study included 886 participants, who submitted 2,220 reports from June 2016 to July 2019. The results and analysis were published in April of this year in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

Key Findings

• When using products intended to combat nausea, users experienced relief in as little as five minutes.
• Those who smoked cannabis flower achieved much more complete and rapid relief than those who preferred vaping or edibles.
• Most surprisingly, products high in THC were far more effective than those high in CBD.

As study co-author Jacob Vigil stated, “Perhaps our most surprising finding was that THC, usually associated with recreational use, significantly improved the condition of cannabis users, while CBD, often linked to medical use, was less effective at relieving their symptoms.”

Interestingly, products labeled “Sativa” or “Hybrid” outperformed those labeled “Indica” (an inaccurate classification, but that’s another story). According to the authors, “Sessions using flower with high THC and low CBD were generally associated with rapid symptom relief, often within five minutes.”

Implications and Cautions

This is good news for those who praise the medical benefits of THC. However, the study’s authors urge caution. According to lead author Sarah Stith, it is difficult to study the long-term effects of THC use in high-risk groups, such as pregnant women and children. She also warns that nausea is just one symptom; for others, CBD may actually be more effective than THC.

In any case, this study should help promote a more complete understanding of cannabis and its components. It should also encourage anyone who hears the phrase “THC is for fun, CBD is for medicine” to throw that idea where it belongs: in the trash.