Researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia have found that extremely high doses of cannabidiol (CBD) do not impair patients’ driving abilities. They concluded that doses as high as 1500 mg have no impact on people’s driving or cognitive abilities.
CBD is one of the two primary constituents of cannabis but does not cause intoxication. The other primary constituent of cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydracannabinol (Δ9-THC), does cause intoxication and even low doses can impair driving ability for hours after use.
CBD is found in a wealth of wellness products, as well as a formulation known as Epidiolex, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of seizure disorders. “Though CBD is generally considered ‘non-intoxicating’, its effects on safety-sensitive tasks are still being established,” said lead author Dr Danielle McCartney. McCartney is a postdoctoral research associate from the University’s Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics. “Our study is the first to confirm that, when consumed on its own, CBD is driver-safe.”
The study, which was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, involved 17 participants who were tasked with performing several simulated driving tasks after consuming either a placebo or 15, 300 or 1500 mg of CBD in oil. They concluded that even the highest dose of CBD failed to induce feelings of intoxication, let alone impair either driving or cognitive performance.
To read more, see the release from the University of Sydney here.
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