You don’t just stumble: New research points to the psychedelic potential of cannabis

The ban on what we call drugs, including cannabis, has been one of the major barriers to research funding and access, and has robbed us of its real potential.

But in the last few years Cities like Oakland, California and states like Oregon legalize drugs of all kinds, not only to reduce crime and stigma, but also to study the ways they affect us.

Photo by Merlin Lightpainting from Pexels

Cannabis isn’t actually a hallucinogenalthough some users have reported similar symptoms after consuming it. New research results in. released Journal of Psychopharmacology, however, indicates that it might very well mimic the feel of “Oceanic Boundlessness” associated with psychedelics like psilocybin – a sense of connectedness and worldly openness that contributes to the antidepressant effects of psychedelics.

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The study was based on a self-reported survey of over 850 cannabis users about their most intensive experiences after using cannabis; almost 20% described experiences that meet the criteria for ocean boundlessness.

As more states legalize cannabis for millions of Americans, the nuances of how cannabis can help patients with physical and mental ailments increase. It is likely that cannabis “could produce some of the subjective effects that appear to underlie the antidepressant effects of psilocybin”. said Mick Earleywine, one of the authors of the study, but with less intensity and much less frequency.

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Given the informal nature of the study (participants weren’t part of a clinical trial, nor were their experiences qualified with laboratory tests), no concrete conclusions can yet be drawn, but it’s an exciting development that quantifies how many people use cannabis for its therapeutic effects. As laws change and budgets are allocated, scientists stand ready to expand, or even rewrite, our knowledge of cannabis’ potential and its effects.