Men who occasionally use cannabis may experience stronger effects from the drug than women with similar drinking habits, new research suggests.
The UCLA Health study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, included 44 healthy adults aged 21 to 55, split equally between men and women. The researchers divided the participants according to whether they used cannabis frequently or occasionally.
Each participant participated in three separate sessions: smoking cannabis without THC, with a lower amount of THC, or with a higher amount. They didn’t know which one they were getting at that time.
Among those who occasionally used cannabis, men reported feeling more high, sedated and impaired than women with similar use habits, the study found.
Men also reported more unpleasant effects, including anxiety, and their heart rates increased significantly after consuming active cannabis.
THC blood levels alone do not appear to explain the difference.
Men and women who occasionally used cannabis had similar peak THC levels, although men reported stronger effects, the researchers found.
The trend was different among people who used cannabis more often. Men and women in the frequent use group generally responded similarly to active cannabis.
Frequent users were also more likely than infrequent users to say they enjoyed the effects, wanted to use cannabis again, and chose to use more during the study, regardless of gender.
These findings challenge some previous research suggesting that women may be more sensitive to the effects of cannabis.
“Much of what we thought we knew about sex differences in the effects of cannabis came from animal research and human studies that pooled data from different trials,” Dr. Ziva Cooper, the study’s principal investigator and director of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, said in a press release.
“When we designed a study to simultaneously look at gender and frequency of use, and control for hormones, the situation changed,” she added.
The researchers monitored the timing of the menstrual cycle in the women in the study, who were not using hormonal contraception.
The findings suggest that a person’s cannabis habits may be important when considering how men and women respond to the drug.
“Gender and history of cannabis use can both shape how a person experiences the effects of cannabis,” lead author Dr. Stephanie Lake, a researcher at the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, said in the release.
“Studying the two together is key to understanding who is at greater risk for higher-risk, unpleasant, or beneficial cannabis-related experiences.” »
The results had several limitations, the researchers acknowledged.
The study was small, with only 44 participants, and many of the findings regarding occasional male users came from exploratory analyses, meaning they need to be confirmed in larger studies.
The cannabis used in the experiment contained 4 or 10 percent THC, which researchers say is lower than many cannabis products sold today, where THC levels are typically 20 percent or more.
Researchers said larger studies are needed to better understand whether men and women develop cannabis tolerance differently and how these differences might affect the risk of cannabis use disorder.
Fox News Digital has contacted the researchers for comment.
Gn Health
