Cannabis scientists are trying to find a predictable, reliable product (2020)

22 dr_dshiv 28 6/20/2025, 5:06:57 AM nytimes.com ↗

Comments (28)

walthamstow · 13m ago
The bit about pure THC rings true. My guy here in Britain sells live resin but occasionally when he's out of that, I'll buy one of his homebrew dab carts.

He says they are 0.4ml live resin, 0.5ml THC distillate and 0.1ml terpenes. They weigh so much heavier on my brain, and have little euphoria, compared to live resin or regular old nugs.

rurban · 3h ago
> weather or insects

Growers aren't really worried about them. They worried about the deadly HLVd virus. https://ceainsight.com/research-hop-latent-viroid-cannabis/

Weather is irrelevant, it's all in hightech greenhouses, with strong LED lighting, automatic watering, climate control, no insects.

CjHuber · 16m ago
Oh there will definitely be insects indoors if you are not careful to no bring them in. But yeah HLVd is currently a real plant pandemic
echelon_musk · 1h ago
> to make cannabis as popular as booze requires solving that original problem: It’s hard to imagine millions of people becoming new recreational users without being able to promise them that the product they’re spending money on ... will give them the effect they want.

> it remains to be seen whether that’s even possible with a plant as complex as cannabis

Cannabis doesn't work like this. It has been tried and the end result was Sativex. It doesn't work as well as actual cannabis. It's like trying to replace coffee with caffeine. There's something like ~1000 compounds in coffee. The effects are not the same.

There's an entourage effect going on in cannabis that's extremely hard to replicate. Even buds on different parts of the same plant will have different profiles.

Also the sativa vs indica classification is almost completely meaningless nonsense these days. Does it have high THCV? Then maybe it's what was once called sativa. Was it an indica harvested before there were any amber trichomes? Maybe it has 'sativa' effects etc.

Cthulhu_ · 1h ago
Isn't it also the same with alcohol, at least the beverage that people drink? Wine especially is very susceptible to conditions; soil, weather, strain, location, barrels, harvest time, aging conditions/temperature, etc.

Sure, the alcohol chemical is the same everywhere, but so is THC/CBD when you want to reduce it like that. Watered down ethanol is probably a thing but few people drink it like that.

wizzwizz4 · 48m ago
That affects the taste of the alcohol, but not really the psychoactive effects. Booze is booze is booze.
Jarmsy · 15m ago
That was not my experience at all when I used to drink, and I don't think I'm alone in this. The feeling from different alcoholic drinks differed significantly.
portaouflop · 18m ago
I disagree - personally I have vastly different effects wether I drink beer, whiskey, wine or jägermeister and I’m sure most people feel the same.
wizzwizz4 · 16m ago
A good portion of drunkenness is purely psychological. Tell people that fruit juice is alcoholic, and they start acting drunk, even though they're sober. I imagine it's mostly that, plus the different alcohol concentrations.
Traubenfuchs · 4h ago
pipeline_peak · 3h ago
This article reads like something Vice published in 2012. Quite honestly, I only made it 1/3 through. We’ve all been to those glass case dispensaries by now. The world of weed isn’t that new and exciting anymore, c’mon guys…

They seemed to discuss reducing as much of the plant as possible to make something less variable, but smoking has gotten so many improvements what about edibles?

Just make a THC capsule that works whenever I take it, cumulatively if possible.

Not lousy gummies that I can only take once in a 24 hour cycle as my tolerance skyrockets. Followed by a hangover effect caused by as little as 10 mg.

Those current gummies, if my dosage isn’t enough and I take more later (low and slow), the second dose never quite catches up to the first one. It’s just one big non euphoric haze.

I’ve tried sublingual RSO, tinctures, and edibles. The current world of non smokable weed needs a lot of fundamental changes. It’s almost like edibles are stuck in the 70’s era of pot brownies but they reduced it down to a gummy.

temp0826 · 3h ago
Nothing will get rid of the hangover (unless you count being high all the time). Why not dabs? There are also suppositories. Eating it implies the digestion process which makes it massively variable (fat solubility, how recently you ate, how good your liver is etc...). I would think sublinguals would be decent but I've never tried (and probably won't...quit cannabis for other reasons years ago. I was a very heavy user, 3-5 grams of concentrate dabbed a week).
pipeline_peak · 2h ago
Because of years of dabbing in my early 20’s (a lot of reckless high temp ones especially) my lungs are hyper sensitive to any sort of inhaling and I’ve been told by pulmonologists that I have asthmatic symptoms.

I get chest pains from car exhaust,cig smoke, high fume cooking, cleaning products etc. so yeah…that’s why I seem so adamant on edibles.

I only did sublingual rso which didn’t feel very euphoric. It does seem promising to people with Parkinson’s or anyone who wants medicinal benefits with minimal impairment.

temp0826 · 2h ago
Ah wow, yah I understand that, I for sure torched my lungs a few times (ever been so high you forgot to put water in the dab rig...sigh). Was a smoker (tobacco) for about a decade as well but luckily have recovered from all that without any long term breathing related symptoms.

I don't know how economical they are these days (or how loaded with sugar they might be) but the thc-infused drinks were nice when I gave them a go.

Maybe the sublinguals were just too much cbd? I really liked rso capsules.

rusk · 3h ago
You could try decarbed weed in gel caps. It’s just the first stage of edibles without all the extra food gunk.
pipeline_peak · 3h ago
Unless I’ve mistaken what you suggested, It needs either a carrier oil or ethanol to be psychoactive, at least how things stand now. And if what you suggested is like anything that I’ve tried, it’s the same problem. They just aren’t as reliable or consistent as other oral drugs.

There needs to be research done so we can do away with smoking. People who take opioids don’t need a pipe, why do we?

gfody · 2h ago
maybe something like a crushed protab via nasal insufflation
rusk · 3h ago
Yes you need to take it with something. But you don’t have to be messing about with somebody else’s idea of what a nice treat is.

We have vaporisers, if you want a safe reliable non-pipe solution for self administration.

pipeline_peak · 3h ago
>But you don’t have to be messing about with somebody else’s idea of what a nice treat is.

It’s nothing about a personal treat, it’s about a reliable product that works with as minimal physical damage as possible. Vaping and smoking just don’t meet that criteria.

Think of something like Vicodin, you just take the sugarless pill and it just works. Maybe quicker and harder depending on how empty your stomach is, but far less unpredictable. I don’t think we’re ever gonna get there with THC without the research funding currently only found by major pharmaceutical companies.

rusk · 2h ago
What was your issue with tincture again? I don’t think you’d run side effects like you do with Vicodin
pipeline_peak · 2h ago
I was only using Vicodin as an example of something that’s consistent. I could’ve mentioned almost any other well known psychoactive pharmaceutical

I should probably try oil based tinctures. I’d imagine they’re the same deal as gummies, but I’d have to see.

I tried ethanol tinctures sublingually. Not only did they burn like hell but they were leaving cuts under my tongue.

rusk · 2h ago
For me a strong coconut oil based infusion hits pretty much instantly
achenet · 2h ago
DrillShopper · 4h ago
Hey, let me know if you need anyone to help with that research.
readthenotes1 · 4h ago
naruhodo · 3h ago
I've seen the same study reported in non-science media today as well.

As is established tradition, the scientists did a meta-analysis of studies that did not control for method of administration. (Your second link - healthline - notes that: "There was no delineation in the analysis, however, on the risks of smoking cannabis compared to ingesting it."). I have yet to see any evidence that edibles or dry-herb vaporisers have the same harms as smoking.

I have absolutely no problem with believing that smoking cannabis is harmful. There is clearly value in warning people about smoking cannabis. However, I would like to see some nuance around method of administration. I will continue to treat my health issues with oil-based tinctures and the occasional bit of dry-herb vaped flower.

danielbln · 4m ago
THC increases heartrate, so it's not entirely implausible that there is a knock-on effect on cardiovascular health, even when ingested. More research needed, however, and yes, smoking is always bad.
rusk · 3h ago
Surprised that after all these years we still have to point out “correlation is not causation”