Corvallis, OR: Subjects do not exhibit short-term changes in their ability to regulate emotions following the inhalation of cannabis cigarettes containing greater than 20 percent THC, according to clinical data published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical & Experimental.

Investigators affiliated with Oregon State University and Washington State University assessed the impact of cannabis smoking on emotional regulation in a cohort of 12 young adults. Participants in the study were experienced cannabis consumers who provided their own cannabis. Researchers assessed participants’ mood and their ability to regulate their emotions during periods of sobriety and while under the influence of cannabis.

Contrary to researchers’ hypothesis, subjects performed no differently on a battery of emotion regulation tasks following the inhalation of high-potency cannabis than they did while sober. “There was no evidence that acute high-potency cannabis use affected participants’ implicit or explicit emotion regulation,” the investigators reported.

Study subjects did report improvements in their mood and a decrease in anxiety following the use of cannabis. 

The study’s authors concluded: “The current pilot study assessed whether being under the influence of high- potency cannabis flower affects emotion regulation among a sample of young adults who use cannabis regularly. While participants reported a more positive mood and decreases in anxiety while intoxicated, there was no evidence to suggest that intoxication from high-potency cannabis flower affected emotion regulation. Future research with larger samples might consider adopting … alternative measures of emotion regulation to assess the acute effects of high-potency cannabis use on emotion regulation and other health outcomes.”

Full text of the study, “A naturalistic examination of the acute effects of high potency cannabis on emotion regulation among young adults: A pilot study,” appears in Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical & Experimental.