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Welcome to the Medical cannabis Education Podcast, where we provide reliable and up to date information on all things related to cannabis and its various uses. From its effects on the body and mind, to its potential medical benefits, we aim to be a trusted source of information for those looking to learn more about this often misunderstood plant.
Truth be told, that new intro was made by artificial intelligence, did you like it?
So, for those that don't know, I actually started my cannabis journey with dry herb vapes because I was scared of smoke. I had asthma, and was just...pretty scared of smoke at the time as a lad. I never got anxiety from doing the dry herb vape, even though I was doing 3 sessions in one sitting at the time, with bud from dispensaries. But then I saw like...different glass peices and that kind of artform made me want to smoke after a few years. So, I got a bong for christmas, and at one point got a couple peices from Hemper. And every once in a while smoking I would get pretty anxious out of the blue. When I got my gallbladder out, that anxiety got worse and made me completely lose my tolerance to edibles. It wasn't until recently that I am doing dry herb vaping again, and....that has completely fixed both the anxiety and lower tolerance. (As I can tell because edibles aren't hitting that hard anymore).
That has made me want to do this topic...what is the difference between smoking and vaping cannabis? Is there something in the smoke that could cause anxiety like that?
I researched some articles on what smoking and vaping do, I even researched the individual molecules of smoke to see what they can do, I had to research some words about what the studies meant. I will post this whole script in the description for accessibility, and that will also have the sources.
So, here is what I was able to find:
One study took multiple different strains with different THC Percengages and put them through a smoke machine. They were looking to test for the amount of toxins and carcinogens in smoking cannabis next to nicotine. They found conflicting results, however. It seems as though the higher the THC percentage, the higher particles you smoke throughout; but there were some that had more toxins than others in the smoke. In fact, they found a lot more terpenes than they did toxins. ^262f2e
Estimations that up to 50% of the ฮ9THC is lost in sidestream smoke, up to 30% is destroyed by pyrolysis and 10% is trapped in the butt of the joint have been reported
The potential for terpenoids to be precursors for carcinogens highlights the question of smoking technique, as smoking cannabis joints with higher levels of ฮ9THC may lead to higher levels of carcinogens such as B[a]P.
The results also showed that the percentage of TPM accounted for by ฮ9THC has a tendency to reach a maximum at higher potencies. This suggests that once the cannabis reaches a certain ฮ9THC level, the smoker receives a consistently higher ratio of ฮ9THC to TPM, whereas at lower potencies the smoker receives less ฮ9THC per unit of TPM, and this raises the question of whether or not there are health benefits in smoking cannabis with a higherย _C_THC.
==So, what this concludes is although it's not the same across the board, the higher the THC percentage, the higher chance you get toxins such as carcinogins, benzoapryne, and hydrocarbons. etc. And even terpenes can play a part of that, but they can also counter-act that because of their medical properties.
I also looked at different studies that showed the effects of different smoke molecules.
What I mostly found that the molecules they describe that are in smoke just cause cancers. The most notable molecule for what we are trying to determine though:
Benzoapryne: can cause cognitive harm such as learning and memory impairment, it can also cause autoimmune disorders, infections, and hormone reduction. It can also cause respitory cancers in humans.
PolyAromatic hydrocarbons or PAH, the definition just tells us its a compound in smoke that can cause cancer.
So, what I had learned thusfar is that the compounds in smoke usually cause cancer, and some cases cognitive issues such as learning and memory impairment. I think the most likelihood of a compound causing anxiety would be the Benzoapryne since that one is shown to cause cognitive harm as well as the nervous system.
But that still didn't really answer my question, so...what causes cannabis induced anxiety?
I already theorized that it was going to be caused by too much THC to the body since that's what we've studied before. But has there been studies differentiating smoking and vaping dry herb?
Both studies I looked at said THC stimulates the amygdala, which regulate your responses to things like fear and stress; an excess on cannabinoids can overstimulate this area of the brain, which can cause fear and anxiety. It can also be caused by not having enough opioid receptors in the back of the brain apparently, as well as hormones influctuations playing a part.
So, at the end of this research, we can say that smoke
could
play a role in inducing anxiety, particularly in the molecule benzopyrene, since that is shown to cause cognitive harm. These studies show that the higher the THC%, the more likely you will get more of these harmful molecules and carcinogens; either because you're getting more of the plant altogether maybe, or you might get more smoke with something more potent? Eh. I don't know actually.
The other thing that induces anxiety in general is the higher THC percentages in general, because it can overstimulate the amygdala.
So, hear me out on this. As it said in the beginning study, over 50% of the plant is burnt off when you smoke it, and that is replaced by the tar and carcinogens and stuff. I think it could be that when you smoke it, you're also burning off a lot of terpenes which carry their own medicinal effects that make cannabis different and well rounded. When you're vaping it, you're keeping those terpenes and all of the cannabinoids. It is a different high for sure, it and doesn't feel like a "slap to the face high", to me a vape high feels more gradual that you're able to "settle into", and its more well rounded. I can legitamently feel more myself and hyper on a hybrid, than tired and zone-out ish I usually feel when I smoke.
I think part of the reason I felt anxiety while smoking is because the medicinal terpenes I needed were lacking, and I might be sensitive to actual smoke. Another part might be that a lot of bud is like 30% THC now, which is pretty high. I would like to see bud more diverse in percentages, and know what terpenes are in them.
It was pretty cool to do a deep dive like this. I think next time we could talk about the THC percengages and what they could really mean.
Thank you guys for tuning in!