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An alternative possibility is that cannabis users will titrate the amount of cannabis
smoked depending on potency. If users did titrate in this way, it is possible that the
adverse respiratory effects of smoking would be reduced with more potent cannabis,
as users would be inhaling less smoke overall. Such titration behaviour has been
found for those who smoke tobacco. Some studies have found evidence of titration
behaviour (e.g. longer inter val between ‘puffs’, holding smoke in lungs for shorter
period of time) when smoking more potent cannabis. However, some of these studies
found that despite these behaviours, the amount of THC administered was still higher
for more potent cannabis, suggesting that effective titration did not occur, and other
studies failed to find differences in smoking behaviour for different cannabis
potencies. These older studies are hampered by small sample sizes (6 to 15) and the
low potency (0.2–2.1% THC) of the cannabis used. Research with larger sample sizes
and higher potency cannabis seems to suggest that certain types of cannabis users
may adjust the amount they smoke, provided that they are given enough time to feel
the effects of more potent cannabis. Users who are seeking the most intense high
possible may be exposed to greater har ms with more potent cannabis, given that
they would be unlikely to adjust how much they smoke based on the potency. It has
been suggested that cannabis smoking behaviour is related more to learned habit
rather than potency. In contrast, tobacco smokers seem to be able to change the
amount they smoke immediately depending on the level of nicotine in the cigarette.
Levels of nicotine may be experienced more readily by tobacco smokers than are
THC levels by cannabis smokers.
— Cannabis potency and contamination: a review of the literature [28]
”
Forskningarna som talar mot titreringen skulle alltså baseras på resultat från 1973 och 1974 där man
hade väldigt få försökspersoner. Det kan tyckas vara svag bevisning...
I en studie från 1997 såg forskarna att 3 av 10 försökspersoner kunde reglera sitt intag, men även där
rådde det osäkerhet p.g.a mycket få deltagande försökspersoner och att man förmodligen aldrig nådde
nivån där rökaren var nöjd med ruset:
“
Differences in THC delivery and the related physiological responses to smoking
marijuana of different strengths were found despite instructions to the subjects to
smoke only to their desired level of intoxication. Possible reasons for the observed
differences in THC delivery are 1) that subjects were generally unable to “titrate”
THC delivery to achieve a uniform “high” from the 1.77 and 3.95% marijuana
cigarettes; or 2) that their desired level of intoxication was greater than that which
could be achieved with the weaker of the two active marijuana preparations under
the conditions of the experiment, in which they were constrained to smoking only a
single marijuana cigarette. In favor of the former possibility is that maximum levels
of intoxication were not attained in the majority of subjects (7 of 10) until at least 5
min, and in some subjects (4 of 10) as long as 15 min, after completion of smoking,
thus compromising their ability to self-titrate intake of smoke (and thus THC) based
on levels of “high” perceived during active smoking. On the other hand, it is still
possible that adjustments could be made during smoking with the expectation of
delayed peak “highs” based on previous experience. The alternative possibility,
namely that the single 1.77% preparation was insufficient, even if consumed to the
maximum extent tolerable, to produce the desired level of intoxication, appears
inconsistent with the finding that mean butt lengths of the smoked 1.77% and 3.95%
marijuana cigarettes were nearly identical (19.3 mm and 19.0 mm, respectively). On
the other hand, in 3 of the 10 subjects, butt lengths of the 1.77% marijuana cigarette
were substantially shorter than those of the 3.95% preparation and, in 2 additional
subjects, both preparations were nearly completely consumed (butt lengths 2–4
mm). Therefore, the possibility remains that in this subset of subjects the weaker of
the two active preparations was insufficient to yield the desired level of intoxication,
even when smoked to a relatively short butt length, in the absence of access to more
than one marijuana cigarette.
— Effects of Varying Marijuana Potency on Deposition of Tar and D9-THC in the
Lung During Smoking [29]
”
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