A new study reports that CBD-Rich marijuana has ‘No significant impact’ on driving ability, even when the material includes a small amount of THC.
It has been known for a long time that cannabidiol, CBD, mitigates some of the psychotropic effects of tetrahydrocannabinol, THC.
A Swiss study released last year found “no significant impact” on driving ability after smoking CBD-rich marijuana and no effects on vital signs, even as all the study participants exceeded the legal limit for THC in their blood.
Just under 1% THC in sourced cannabis
In a controlled study conducted in Switzerland, 33 participants were each given a joint containing 500 mg of tobacco and either 500 mg of CBD-rich marijuana (16.6 percent total CBD; 0.9 percent total THC) or 500 mg of a placebo containing a product called Knaster Hemp, a nicotine-and-cannabinoid-free herbal mixture with a hemp terpene fragrance.
Psychotropic cannabis, also known as marijuana, is generally 3 percent THC or greater per dry weight.
Cannabis with less than one percent THC is not considered psychoactive because it takes a relatively large amount of the material to produce any psychotropic effect (high). Even though nobody smokes one percent THC cannabis to get high, the federal definition for hemp further slashes that amount and allows less than a third of that amount.
Low THC requirements plague hemp farmers
Cannabis containing less than 0.3 percent THC on a dry-weight basis is considered industrial hemp in the USA, ever since President Obama signed the 2014 Farm Bill. That definition is based on an arbitrary figure cited by Canadian researcher by Ernie Small, who picked the number for his work because it is so small as to be negligible, not because it constitutes any actual threshold of potency.
As a result, hemp growers in the USA rely on varieties that are bred for their lack of THC rather than their actual utility as a farm crop. They are frequently caught up with patches of “hot hemp” that exceeds 0.3 percent, although it rarely exceeds the one percent amount that occurs more often in nature. This is especially problematic for “cannabinoid hemp” crops.
To reduce this problem, the European Union is considering raising its THC limit above that currently used by the USA and other nations.