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| THE BECKLEY FOUNDATION |

SCIENCE

Research Projects

Investigating the Psychological Effects of THC and the Medical Potential of CBD

Dr. James Stone, Institute of Psychiatry , London
Dr. Paul Morrison, Institute of Psychiatry , London
Amanda Feilding, Beckley Foundation, Oxford

Read the recently published paper on this very interesting study: Opposite Effects of D-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol and Cannabidiol on Human Brain Function and Psychopathology

This study is exploring the psychological effects of two of the most significant compounds found in cannabis, THC and CBD.

It will particularly focus on the therapeutic potential of CBD to alleviate stress and reduce the symptoms of psychosis.

Through this research, we will learn more about how the relative proportions of THC and CBD influence the effects and potential harmfulness of the most widely used illicit drug, and also hope to highlight a new and much needed aid to the treatment of schizophrenia.

Modern genetically modified cannabis available on the illegal market has been bred to maximise the THC content and often has no or very little CBD.

This research will help understand how and why cannabis might contribute to states of psychosis, and also identify the role of the endocannabinoid system in determining these states. Such knowledge is vital in the search for a treatment to alleviate these states, as it identifies the neurotransmitter targets that any treatment should seek to manipulate.

At the same time, we will be contributing to the search for such treatments by investigating the efficacy of another component of cannabis, Cannabidiol (CBD), to relieve some of the distressing effects of THC. CBD has already been shown to have anti-psychotic properties so could be an important addition to the limited range of effective treatments for schizophrenia, one of the most debilitating and distressing diseases that mankind suffers from.

The study will therefore rigorously examine the potential of CBD as an anti-psychotic treatment, and will investigate whether CBD is more effective at treating THC-induced psychosis than current anti-psychotic drugs. If CBD is found to be the most effective treatment, we will then investigate the optimal means of delivering it to clinical patients, and from there quickly progress to phase II clinical studies with psychiatric patients. Given the preliminary data, we are extremely hopeful that CBD will prove to be an effective inhibitor of THC-induced psychosis, and that a vital new treatment will be brought to the aid of patients suffering from this most distressing of mental disorders. This research could also help illuminate why modern strains of cannabis have been associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis as such strains are bred and grown to maximise their THC content with no regard to CBD concentrations. Understanding this could lead to the development of safer strains of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational users alike, which might increase the likelihood of decriminalising cannabis and regulating its use as is the case for other drugs such as tobacco or alcohol.