A Clinical and Metabolic Study of Acute Intoxication with Cannabis Sativa and its Role in the Model Psychoses

Giving oral doses of hashish, also known as marihuana or dagga, produces mental disturbances similar to those caused by mescaline and lysergic acid. Because these changes resemble symptoms of schizophrenia, some researchers have proposed using such drug-induced “model psychoses” to study the mechanisms and causes of natural psychoses. Cannabis has received less attention than mescaline and lysergic acid, likely because its chemistry is not fully understood and plant preparations are difficult to standardize and vary in potency.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper describes an inquiry into the effects of giving oral doses of the narcotic drug variously known as hashish, marihuana and, in South Africa, dagga. The drug is a preparation from the plant Cannabis sativa whose narcotic effect has been known for centuries. The writer's interest in it was inspired by the work in recent years on the mental disturbances produced by the active principles of other plants, e.g. mescaline and lysergic acid. Because of the similarity of these changes to those occurring in conditions such as schizophrenia, some workers have suggested that these “model psychoses” could be used as a research tool in attempts to elucidate the mechanisms and causes of the naturally occurring psychoses. Although there has been a great deal of work on mescaline and lysergic acid, cannabis has not received much attention. This may be because its chemistry is still not fully worked out and preparations of the plant are difficult to standardize and vary in their potency.