Today, consumers are not only limited to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) extracts. Extract producers have begun offering a mixture of THC and CBD, available in multiple rations such as 50:50, or half THC and half CBD.
This leaves a lingering question in the minds of consumers. What are the benefits of these ratios? Do they improve the overall experience?
One major concern with THC extracts is their potency and intoxicating nature. For some users, a potent THC extract can lead to bouts of anxiety, which can utterly ruin any experience.
To address the intoxicating nature of THC, extract products now include varying levels of CBD in their products to ameliorate the psychotropic effects of THC.
Researchers found in a 2012 study that THC/CBD mixtures were effective in limiting the psychotropic effects of THC, albeit in a limited sense (e.g., improving episodic memory but not working memory).
Another 2018 study evaluated the effects of THC and CBD on memory impairment and psychosis and found CBD-rich cultivars were effective in reducing THC-induced impairments such as facial recognition.
“One possible tentative explanation is that CBD’s pro-cognitive effects combine with the ability of THC to stimulate novel thinking to result in successful task performance,” the 2018 study concluded.
Although much more work needs to be done to unlock the true benefits of THC/CBD mixtures, the aforementioned studies do produce interesting results.
Thus, consumers seeking to blunt the psychotropic effects of THC might be interest in tapping into the anti-anxiety effects of CBD to drastically improve their experience with extracts.
Photo courtesy of David Gabric from Unsplash
