THE PLACEBO EFFECT WITH MARIJUANA

The placebo effect has long been a controversial concept in scientific studies. Traditionally,
they have been used in primarily medical settings to ensure the integrity of the experiment —
that the effects of a drug were true and could be compared to that of a subject who
was not part of the experiment. 
Lots of the effects of drugs are due to what we expect the drugs to do, like the
placebo effect. A good example of this is alcohol, people feel the effects of a beer or
a shot pretty quickly but it actually takes about 15 to 30 minutes for it to get into the
bloodstream. If you smoked marijuana once and felt very giddy, the next time you
smoke and feel giddy it could just be the effect of the marijuana but it could also be
a placebo effect… you are feeling what you expect to be feeling. In all likelihood it’s
both… you are feeling giddy because you took a drug that makes you feel that way
AND because your own brain created a sortof placebo effect of giddiness based on
your expectation of getting that effect (even though an actual drug was used).

That being said, marijuana has noticeable physiological effects that serve as clear
signs that you have thc tetrahydrocannabinol(the chief active ingredient in
marijuana) in you system. The two most clear symptoms are dry mouth and
increased heart rate/blood pressure. 

With marijuana, however, the research isn’t clear. Part of that problem is that government-
sponsored studies of weed are few and far between and are way weaker than what’s actually
out there. A prescription pill, Marinol, mimics the effects of marijuana for those seeking
relief without actually smoking pot and has seen some conflicting results. In fact, in a study
looking to see if anxiety was eased with pot, results indicated the placebo definitely did not
work; another focusing on children with epilepsy indicated parents were overestimating the
positive effects of marijuana on their kids.
So, with the advent of marijuana legalization, we’re reminded again that it’s nearly
impossible to figure out how or when a person is intoxicated. And finally, everyone’s got a
different way they handle their weed consumption. For some, it’s chilling on a bench. For
others, it’s consuming an inordinate amount of tacos.