Two cases of "cannabis acute psychosis" following the administration of oral cannabis

Cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug and its therapeutic aspects have a growing interest. Short-term psychotic reactions have been described but not clearly with synthetic oral THC, especially in occasional users. We report two cases of healthy subjects who were occasional but regular can...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC psychiatry 2005-04, Vol.5 (1), p.17-17, Article 17
Main Authors: Favrat, Bernard, Ménétrey, Annick, Augsburger, Marc, Rothuizen, Laura E, Appenzeller, Monique, Buclin, Thierry, Pin, Marie, Mangin, Patrice, Giroud, Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Administration, Oral
Adult
Case Report
Depersonalization - chemically induced
Dronabinol - administration & dosage
Dronabinol - blood
Dronabinol - pharmacology
Hallucinogens - administration & dosage
Hallucinogens - blood
Hallucinogens - pharmacology
Humans
Male
Marijuana Abuse - blood
Marijuana Abuse - etiology
Marijuana Smoking - epidemiology
Marijuana Smoking - psychology
Paranoid Disorders - chemically induced
Psychoses, Substance-Induced - blood
Psychoses, Substance-Induced - etiology
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Summary:Cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug and its therapeutic aspects have a growing interest. Short-term psychotic reactions have been described but not clearly with synthetic oral THC, especially in occasional users. We report two cases of healthy subjects who were occasional but regular cannabis users without psychiatric history who developed transient psychotic symptoms (depersonalization, paranoid feelings and derealisation) following oral administration of cannabis. In contrast to most other case reports where circumstances and blood concentrations are unknown, the two cases reported here happened under experimental conditions with all subjects negative for cannabis, opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, benzodiazepines and alcohol, and therefore the ingested dose, the time-events of effects on behavior and performance as well as the cannabinoid blood levels were documented. While the oral route of administration achieves only limited blood concentrations, significant psychotic reactions may occur.
ISSN:1471-244X
1471-244X
DOI:10.1186/1471-244X-5-17