Sounds like too much tobacco!
I never had anxiety problems, even from THC-heavy (+10%) weed as long as i vaped it (and that are quite some years now).
However, when i was smoking it with tobacco in my younger years, i experienced lots of anxiety.
Occasionally, there are some studies that oerate on basis of pure substance use, and some are cross-comparable to surveys, where most participants are smoking the weed, where you can directly calculate the much lower addiction potential and much safer side-effect profile of "purified" cannabis usage. I did this in the past, my personal experience also confirms the result and numbers ususally don't lie.
Tobacco? What's that got to do with it?
There's no indication that tobacco was involved in any of the studies being discussed here. I was talking about the ratio of cannabidiol (a natural anti-psychotic) to THC in cannabis, nothing to do with tobacco.
Also 10% THC is not THC-heavy by today's standards. Many if not most high-THC strains are now over 20% THC. It's when the CBD levels are <5% that anxiety becomes a problem.
You didn't mention what the CBD levels were in your "THC-heavy (+10%) weed". A nice 10% CBD/10% THC balance shouldn't create any anxiety.
Hold on, dude!
I didn't doubt or question the importance of the role of the THC/CBD ratio, nor would i ever do.
Also, 10%+ includes any figure above, even 24% (which was the "strongest" i personally tried, yet).
As a matter of fact, you're completely right regarding the balance of those two cannbinoids, just to make that clear.
But: Alcaloids contained in tobacco (and possibly additives) contribute to interdependent effects with cannabinoids.
However, the study isn't linked from the article, but i may quote this part:
“They might have been having some kind of mental health concerns, were feeling quite depressed and also smoking cannabis very regularly. None of these people had an emergency room visit for anxiety when they first showed up,” he said.
And cannabis is commonly smoked mixed with tobacco, innit?
I didn't see any hint that mixed use consumers were excluded in the study. I can tell you from the plenty of studies i have read so far: Usually they are not. The wording "Cannabis use" usually doesn't differ between smoking, eating, pure or mixed, extracted by using oil, alcohol or gas. But it makes a difference. It has to, it is simply biochemistry at work here.
Again: No offense regarding the effects of cannabinoid balance, which is a proven fact, but when the media (and also studies) are pointing out "cannabis use", they don't mean pure cannabis. That's a major flaw to the disadvantage of that magic present of nature and how it is percieved by the public and also medical realm. I can't believe that "scientists" are working at such a level of imprecision.
And again: I was diagnosed for panic attacks (social anxiety), which mysteriously disappeared soon after i quit smoking tobacco. Nicotine is a neurotoxin. Add this up with "smoking cannabis very regularly" from the quoted part of the article. Click?
I avoid tobacco at all costs but there are people who only smoke blunts rolled in tobacco leaves. It was more popular 20 years ago before the invention of the "pre-roll" that you see nowadays, but old habits die hard for some folks.
As far as the THC% discussion... It would be hard to find a strain with lower than 20% THC in my area and strains containing as high as 35% are common for the right price. They even have "infused" pre-rolls now that I've seen with 45% THC content for as low as $6 a piece... Times are changing...
My $0.02 on the anxiety and CBD argument... There are more than 420 chemicals in cannabis and more than 50 of them are cannabinoids. I believe it would be foolish to try and break down anxiety to only the ratio of THC/CBD. Tip of the iceberg friends. This is why you shouldn't judge cannabis by the THC or the CBD content and instead by the feeling YOU get from it, as all people are also different. Longtime Humboldt County farmers who have worked on their strains for generations absolutely HATE that people boil their decision on what to purchase down to the THC content only. It's just a piece of the equation. People used to obsess about Indica vs Sativa, now they talk about different levels of the 4 major cannabinoids that have been studied: d9THC, CBD, d8THC and cannabinol. In time the levels of these 4 cannabinoids used to determine the effects of cannabis will be expanded to 50+ and there will be a rating system with charts and things. For now, it's just easiest to look at THC content, but don't fool yourself into thinking that's an accurate reflection of the differences in strains. The opinion of a smoker on a strain is far superior than the determination of a lab, for now. My opinion: Gorilla Glue is the best strain regardless of what lab tests say about percentages or ratios of different crops.
Oh ya...
BITCOIN IS BACK ABOVE $44,000! The post ETF profit taking appears to be in the rearview.