For those of us who use cannabis to treat depression, the following should be of great interest, especially when considering how much we smoke or ingest. Dosage may have a significant impact on how marijuana affects depression.
A study published in the 'Journal of Neuroscience' last year has found that THC (one of the active ingredients in cannabis) may have a beneficial effect for Depression sufferers in low doses. However, higher doses can have a reverse effect.
The study was conducted on rats by doctors from the Neurobiological Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, and the Department of Psychiatry, Centre de Recherche Fernand Seguin, Hôpital L.H. Lafontaine, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada :
"Low doses had a potent anti-depressant effect, but when we increased the dose, the serotonin in the rats' brains actually dropped below the level of those in the control group. So we actually demonstrated a double effect: At low doses it increases serotonin, but at higher doses the effect is devastating, completely reversed."
The news article is available at Physorg.com
The full text of the research is available here.
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