Average Intoxication as a Proxy for Cannabis Use

Abstract

Assessing cannabis use is challenging due to the lack of standardized doses, differing potencies among products, and the potential for sharing with others. Although legalization of cannabis might give users a better sense of the quantity purchased and THC/CBD composition of products, issues in assessment and measurement can still preclude researchers from understanding use patterns. Given these challenges, the present work examines whether an individual’s average level of intoxication after cannabis consumption might serve as a better proxy for cannabis use than quantity of use. Data was aggregated from several studies related to cannabis use and health behaviors and collapsed across common variables (N = 2,659, Mean age = 34.08, 61.9% Male, 84.8% Caucasian). Our sample reported using cannabis either six or seven days per week, consuming approximately 1.12 ounces of cannabis per month (SD = .35 ounces), attaining an average intoxication of 3.49 on a scale from 0 (“Not at all”) to 6 (“Extremely high;” SD = 1.21), and experiencing a mild amount of cannabis-induced impairment as measured by the Cannabis-Associated Problems Questionnaire (CAPQ; M = 8.21, SD = 9.08). In this sample of frequent users, average intoxication levels were significantly related to cannabis problems (r = .153, p < .001) while quantity per month appeared to be unrelated (r = .005, p = .798). Using Meng’s (1992) procedure for comparing correlated correlation coefficients, these relations were found to significantly differ from each other (Z = - 5.53, p < .001). Our results provide preliminary evidence supporting cannabis-induced intoxication as a better proxy for cannabis use than quantity consumed. Individuals might more accurately remember their experiences of being high as opposed to recalling how much they consumed over a month’s span. Future work should continue to examine relations between intoxication and other indices of cannabis use to confirm and extend our findings.