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Abstract
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AIMS: To evaluate the feasibility and validity of a new method of quantifying cannabis flower use, integrating the amount of cannabis flower smoked and the potency of the cannabis flower.
DESIGN: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) for 14 days.
SETTING: Participants' daily lives in Columbia, Missouri, USA.
PARTICIPANTS: 50 community participants, who were regular cannabis flower smokers (48% female).
MEASUREMENTS: Momentary subjective intoxication ratings following cannabis flower smoking; momentary quantity of cannabis flower smoked; potency of cannabis flower smoked in terms of percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] concentration assessed with a portable device, the Purpl Pro(TM) ; and time since finished smoking.
FINDINGS: Participants completed our field testing of their cannabis flower (96.2%) and were compliant with our 2-week EMA protocol (73% for random prompts and 91% for morning reports). Momentary subjective intoxication ratings trended down as a function of time since smoking (r = -.10, p =.004, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-.17, -.03]). Multi-level model (MLM) results indicated the momentary standard THC units (mgTHC) were positively associated with momentary subjective intoxication ratings (b = 0.01, p =.03, 95% CI [0.01, 0.012]).
CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence to support the feasibility and initial validity of a new method of quantifying cannabis flower use into standard tetrahydrocannabinol units. Researchers investigating the effects of cannabis flower use on a range of outcomes (e.g., neurobehavioral effects, emotional sequelae, and driving impairment) as well as in clinical treatment trials might adopt this method to provide estimates of cannabis flower use.
Language: en |