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Medical cannabis products are well-tolerated and can improve the quality of life of patients with chronic illnesses, according to a new study published in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology.

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The study was focused on patients enrolled in the U.K. Medical Cannabis Registry and investigated the clinical outcomes of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) for a variety of conditions, including chronic pain, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and inflammatory bowel disease. 

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Investigators analyzed health-related quality of life data for nearly 3,000 patients who either vaporized cannabis or ingested extracts containing THC and CBD. Using validated questionnaires, the researchers compared data at baseline, one, three, six and 12 months. 

The results showed that CBMPs improved health-related quality of life and reduced anxiety levels in patients and improved sleep. No serious adverse events were reported during the study. Mild to moderate adverse events included fatigue, dry mouth and lethargy. 

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 The study also found that women and cannabis-naive patients were at increased likelihood of experiencing adverse events.

“This difference may be secondary to differences in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics between male and female patients,” study authors noted, adding that the divergence of outcomes between men and women “is an important consideration to ensure safe prescribing.”

Noting the limitations of the study, including a lack of a control group and potential selection bias, researchers underscored the need for further clinical trials to generate guidelines to optimize therapy with CBMPs.

Medical cannabis was legalized in the U.K. in 2018, but advocates say cost, limited availability, regulatory barriers and stigma are all contributing factors in barriers to access.

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Medical cannabis is not currently funded by the National Health Service (NHS), and patients must pay for the limited number of available medical products themselves.

In 2018, six-year-old Alfie Dingley, who lives with a rare form of epilepsy called PCDH19, became the first person in the U.K. to receive a permanent medical cannabis licence. In 2021, Dingley’s mother, Hannah Deacon told The GrowthOp that there’s no funding pathway for medical cannabis in the U.K.

“There’s no desire to prescribe it. I think there’s a huge amount of stigma still around the word cannabis,” she said, adding that many families with sick children have to fundraise to help cover the costs.

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Many people have experienced reductions in stress, pain and anxiety and sometimes even euphoria after exercise. What’s behind this so-called “runner’s high”? New research on the neuroscience of exercise may surprise you.

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The “runner’s high” has long been attributed to endorphins. These are chemicals produced naturally in the body of humans and other animals after exercise and in response to pain or stress.

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However, research from my lab summarizes nearly two decades of work on this topic. We found that exercise reliably increases levels of the body’s endocannabinoids – which are molecules that work to maintain balance in the brain and body – a process called “homeostasis.” This natural chemical boost may better explain some of the beneficial effects of exercise on brain and body.

I am a neuroscientist at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. My lab studies brain development and mental health, as well as the role of the endocannabinoid system in stress regulation and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents.

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This research has implications for everyone who exercises with the aim of reducing stress and should serve as a motivator for those who don’t regularly exercise.

Health benefits of exercise

Several decades of research has shown that exercise is beneficial for physical health. These studies find a consistent link between varying amounts of physical activity and reduced risk of premature death and dozens of chronic health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, cancer and heart disease.

More recently – over about the past two decades – mounting research shows that exercise is also highly beneficial for mental health. In fact, regular exercise is associated with lower symptoms of anxiety, depression, Parkinson’s disease and other common mental health or neurological problems. Consistent exercise is also linked to better cognitive performance, improved mood, lower stress and higher self-esteem.

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It is not yet clear what is behind these mental health boosts. We do know that exercise has a variety of effects on the brain, including raising metabolism and blood flow, promoting the formation of new brain cells – a process called neurogenesis – and increasing the release of several chemicals in the brain.

Some of these chemicals are called neurotrophic factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor. BDNF is intricately involved in brain “plasticity,” or changes in activity of brain cells, including those related to learning and memory.

Scientists have also shown that exercise increases blood levels of endorphins, one of the body’s natural opioids. Opioids are chemicals that work in the brain and have a variety of effects, including helping to relieve pain. Some early research in the 1980s contributed to the long-standing popular belief that this endorphin release is related to the euphoric feeling known as the runner’s high.

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However, scientists have long questioned the role of endorphins in the runner’s high sensation, in part because endorphins cannot cross into the brain through the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain from toxins and pathogens. So endorphins are not likely to be the main driver for the beneficial effects of exercise on mood and mental state.

This is where our research and that of others points to the role of our body’s natural versions of cannabinoids, called endocannabinoids.

The surprising role of endocannabinoids

You may be familiar with cannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol – better known as THC – the psychoactive compound in cannabis (from the Cannabis sativa L. plant) that causes people to feel high. Or you may have heard of cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD, an extract of cannabis that is infused in some foods, medicines, oils and many other products.

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But many people do not realize that humans also create their own versions of these chemicals, called endocannabinoids. These are tiny molecules made of lipids – or fats – that circulate in the brain and body; “endo” refers to those produced in the body rather than from a plant or in a lab.

Endocannabinoids work on cannabinoid receptors throughout the brain and body. They cause a variety of effects, including pain relief, reduction of anxiety and stress and enhanced learning and memory. They also affect hunger, inflammation and immune functioning. Endocannabinoid levels can be influenced by food, time of day, exercise, obesity, injury, inflammation and stress.

It’s worth noting that one should not be tempted to forgo a run or bike ride and resort to smoking or ingesting cannabis instead. Endocannabinoids lack the unwanted effects that come with getting high, such as mental impairment.

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Understanding the runner’s high

Studies in humans and in animal models are pointing to endocannabinoids – not endorphins – as the star players in the runner’s high.

These elegant studies demonstrate that when opioid receptors are blocked – in one example by a drug called naltrexone – people still experienced euphoria and reduced pain and anxiety after exercise. On the flip side, the studies showed that blocking the effects of cannabinoid receptors reduced the beneficial effects of exercise on euphoria, pain and anxiety.

While several studies have shown that exercise increases the levels of endocannabinoids circulating in the blood, some have reported inconsistent findings, or that different endocannabinoids produce varying effects. We also don’t know yet if all types of exercise, such as cycling, running or resistance exercise like weightlifting, produce similar results. And it is an open question whether people with and without preexisting health conditions like depression, PTSD or fibromyalgia experience the same endocannabinoid boosts.

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To address these questions, an undergraduate student in my lab, Shreya Desai, led a systematic review and meta-analysis of 33 published studies on the impact of exercise on endocannabinoid levels. We compared the effects of an “acute” exercise session – like going for a 30-minute run or cycle – with the effects of “chronic” programs, such as a 10-week running or weightlifting program. We separated them out because different levels and patterns of exertion could have very distinct effects on endocannabinoid responses.

We found that acute exercise consistently boosted endocannabinoid levels across studies. The effects were most consistent for a chemical messenger known as anandamide – the so-called “bliss” molecule, which was named, in part, for its positive effects on mood.

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Interestingly, we observed this exercise-related boost in endocannabinoids across different types of exercise, including running, swimming and weightlifting, and across individuals with and without preexisting health conditions. Although only a few studies looked at intensity and duration of exercise, it appears that moderate levels of exercise intensity – such as cycling or running – are more effective than lower-intensity exercise – like walking at slow speeds or low incline – when it comes to raising endocannabinoid levels. This suggests that it is important to keep your heart rate elevated – that is, between about 70% and 80% of age-adjusted maximum heart rate – for at least 30 minutes to reap the full benefits.

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There are still a lot of questions about the links between endocannabinoids and beneficial effects from exercise. For example, we didn’t see consistent effects for how a chronic exercise regimen, such as a six-week cycling program, might affect resting endocannabinoid levels. Likewise, it isn’t yet clear what the minimum amount of exercise is to get a boost in endocannabinoids, and how long these compounds remain elevated after acute exercise.

Despite these open questions, these findings bring researchers one step closer to understanding how exercise benefits brain and body. And they offer an important motivator for making time for exercise during the rush of the holidays.

Hilary A. Marusak, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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One in two adults in Canada report having trouble falling and staying asleep.

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Chronic stress and poor mental health can be contributing factors and doctors recommend avoiding alcohol, caffeine and nicotine before bed. But what about cannabis?

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A number of recent studies have indicated that cannabis could be a useful sleep aid for those with insomnia, anxiety, depression, chronic pain and other sleep disorders. One reason could be that cannabis helps return those with anxiety or altered sleep habits back to a normal rhythm, according to medical cannabis physician Dr. Matt Roman.

“Marijuana is an effective sleep aid because it restores a person’s natural sleep cycle, which so often falls out of sync with our schedules in today’s modern lifestyle,” Roman previously told Healthline.

But finding the right balance can be tricky. Cannabis consumers can build up a THC tolerance leading to a loss of effectiveness and consuming cannabis in different forms can also lead to different outcomes. Edibles, for example, take longer to kick in and can also contribute to a longer sleep, while those who smoke or vaporize cannabis may feel the effects faster but for a shorter duration.

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Different cannabinoids can also affect sleep outcomes in different ways, including THC and CBD, the two main active compounds in cannabis.

Cinnamon Bidwell, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of cognitive science also at the University of Colorado Boulder, recently told The New York Times that while studies have shown low doses of THC can be an effective sleep aid, the opposite is true for high doses of the cannabinoid. CBD, on the other hand, requires high doses to work most effectively for sleep and does not have the same tolerance profile as THC.

Dr. Bidwell told the Times that, in her experience, those who consume cannabis products for sleep seem to have better outcomes when they use them infrequently, as opposed to every day, which can lead to a buildup of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms, including irritability, anxiety and unsettling dreams.

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“That’s one of the main reasons they go back to using it, or why they can’t fully quit because of how hard it is to sleep as part of that withdrawal,” Dr. Bidwell said.

Cannabis’ affect REM sleep can also lead to frequent consumers not remembering their dreams, which may be a good thing for those with PTSD, but can also lead to vivid and unsettling dreams when consumption stops.

“By smoking weed, you suppress the REM sleep, and with that you also suppress a lot of important functions of that REM sleep. One of those functions is reliving the things you have experienced and coming to terms with them, as it were. Processing all kinds of psychological influences is something you do in REM sleep,” Dr. Hans Hamburger, a Dutch neurologist and somnologist told VICE.

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And though studies focused on cannabis and sleep date back to the 1970s, the data is often questionable or inconclusive due to the plant’s legal status. More recently, investigators have started to examine the benefits of other cannabinoids, like CBN. While still in its early stages, there are signs that CBN may have very useful applications, most notably for sleep.

More research is needed to develop a fuller picture of how cannabis can both improve and negate sleep.

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My story begins eight years ago, when I was approached by my first client requesting that I supervise her in a therapeutic session with a psychedelic medicine.

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She had debilitating depression and anxiety brought on by a breast cancer diagnosis. Although she had survived her cancer, she couldn’t shake her terrible emotional distress. She had tried therapists, pills and a residential program. Nothing had worked.

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Then she came across stories in the media about research at UCLA using psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) with cancer patients suffering from what was called “end-of-life distress” and how this new treatment was showing really promising results.

She was desperate to try it for herself.

Well, as a licensed therapist and academic, could I help this woman? Reading the research literature, I learned that psychedelic research was becoming well-developed as a treatment for the psycho-spiritual depression and “existential anxiety” that often accompany the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness.

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I also found myself in a bind: The science was telling me that psilocybin is the treatment most likely to benefit patients with existential anxiety when other treatments have failed; my ethical code from the B.C. Association of Clinical Counsellors tells me to act to my client’s benefit; federal law forbids me to use this treatment.

This is why, together with colleagues in the Therapeutic Psilocybin for Canadians project, I filed an application with Health Canada in January 2017, seeking a so-called “Section 56 exemption” — to permit us to provide psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to patients with terminal cancer.

Immediate decrease in death anxiety

Recent research at Johns Hopkins Medical Centre and New York University indicates that treatment of this end-of-life distress with psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is safe and effective.

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The research indicated it led to immediate, substantial and sustained decreases in depression, death anxiety, cancer-related demoralization and hopelessness.

It resulted in increased quality of life, life meaning and optimism. And these changes had persisted at a six-month follow-up.

Patients attributed improved attitudes about life and death, self, relationships and spirituality to the psilocybin experience, along with better well-being, life satisfaction and mood.

It is heartening to see research moving into Phase 3 clinical trials that will involve many more research participants. However, the foreseeable future for Canadians who need this game-changing therapy is not especially rosy.

At our current rate of progress, it may well still be years before psilocybin successfully completes Phase 3 trials and becomes available as an orthodox medicine.

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Therapists risk criminal penalties

In the meantime, many Canadians with terminal cancer are also suffering from end-of-life distress, and are in dire need of relief — now.

They face serious and life-threatening illness. Their condition is terminal, so concerns about long-term effects of psilocybin are not relevant. They suffer from serious end-of-life psychological distress (anxiety and depression) to the point that it interferes with their other medical treatments. And this distress has not successfully responded to other treatments.

Psilocybin is currently a restricted drug, meaning that therapists risk criminal penalties if they aid or abet its possession. That means that we cannot recommend or encourage its use.

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My professional Code of Ethics, however, states that our ethical duty is to act in a way that serves our clients’ “best interests.” The service we provide has to be “for the client’s benefit.” We must “take care to maximize benefits and minimize potential harm.”

A compassionate, humanitarian death

I agree with the Canadian medical establishment that, in ordinary circumstances, new medicines should be made available to Canadians only when they have successfully completed Phase 3 clinical trials.

But I contend that the patients described here are not in ordinary circumstances. They have terminal cancer. All other treatments have failed them; they have nothing left to lose. They have the right to die; surely they have the right to try!

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These patients deserve access to a still-experimental but promising medicine on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. Because of their extraordinary medical straits, psilocybin now for them represents a reasonable medical choice; it is necessary to them for a medical purpose.

Our application to Health Canada seeking a “Section 56 exemption” will be ruled on very shortly.

We fully expect that it will be denied — for political, not scientific reasons. Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is likely in no mood to loosen up on psychedelics before the dust from the legalization of cannabis has fully settled. I think the government would like it if someone else made that decision.

Violation of our rights and freedoms

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If our application is denied, we intend to file for a judicial review, and if necessary, a lawsuit in Federal Court challenging that denial.

We believe that prohibition of access to psilocybin for a legitimate medical purpose violates a citizen’s Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Section 7 right to “life, liberty and security of person.”

This clause has already been interpreted by the Supreme Court to imply that a citizen has the right to autonomy in making health-care decisions. Charter-based arguments have already led to success in three recent landmark medical cannabis cases.

We argue that what applies to cannabis also applies to psilocybin:

The prohibition of … cannabis “limits the liberty of medical users by foreclosing reasonable medical choices through the threat of criminal prosecution. Similarly, by forcing a person to choose between a legal but inadequate treatment and an illegal but more effective one, the law also infringes on security of person.” Supreme Court of Canada, R. v. Smith, 2015

One thing that unites all of us human beings is that we will die. Imagine if, when our time comes, we could all have the option to die peacefully, with acceptance, without anxiety.

The story was first published on November 25, 2018

Bruce Tobin, Adjunct Professor in the School of Child & Youth Care, University of Victoria

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Once legalized federally, the U.S. cannabis industry could employ 1.75 million workers across the U.S.

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That’s an estimate from WEEDAR, a 3D augmented reality cannabis shopping platform that’s compiled a jobs report on the U.S. cannabis industry. Noting that the sector has tripled its number of employees in the last four years, jumping from 122,800 in 2017 to almost half a million in 2021, WEEDAR predicts that another 108,000 jobs could be added by the end of this year.

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As it grows, the industry will need to attract talent from alternative fields. For those considering a career move into cannabis, WEEDAR used data from LinkedIn and salaries on Glassdoor to “identify the easiest to secure and highest paid jobs in the cannabis industry.”

Topping the list are cannabis sales managers, who earn an average salary of $113,660 ($157K). Sales managers oversee “sales department personnel, processes and procedures” and applicants will need to be armed with knowledge of industry regulations, competitors and market trends, as well have experience executing sales strategies.

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Cannabis marketing managers came in at No. 2, with an average salary of $83,637 ($115K). Marketing managers will need to specialize in regulations across cities, states and countries and stay ahead of the curve as the rules evolve. They will need to utilize different skills and strategies, from project management to graphic design, to keep businesses humming.

Arriving in the third spot are cannabis business operations managers. Requiring a degree in business administration or a related field, operations managers run the day-to-day tasks, like hiring and onboarding, scheduling, inventory and compliance management. The average salary for this position is $73,360 ($101,245).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the highest-paid job featured in the report belongs to medical marijuana physicians, who can earn up to $300,000 ($414K) annually, but will need to be licensed to practice medicine.

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Earlier this year, a report from LinkedIn identified cannabis dispensary technicians, or budtenders, as the third fastest-growing job title in Canada. Using data collected from Jan. 1, 2018 to July 31, 2022, LinkedIn reports the majority of opportunities for budtenders are in the Greater Toronto Area.

The most common skills for budtenders include product knowledge and sales and retail backgrounds. Knowledge of medical marijuana and cannabis cultivation is considered an asset.

LinkedIn does not cite a salary range for the position but according to Glassdoor, the national average salary for a budtender in Canada is $36,860. Assuming a 40-hour workweek and 50 weeks worked a year, that breaks down to $18.43 an hour. 

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Last month, Germany-based medical cannabis company Cannamedical made headlines when it advertised a “cannabis sommelier” position with a salary of $142K a year. 

Beyond helping the company develop its product portfolio, the sommelier will also perform market analysis, write specialist articles and educational materials and review and monitor the standards of growers in sourcing countries, including Denmark, Australia and Canada.

Cannabis CEOs, meanwhile, are among the top-earning CEOs in Canada. Irwin Simon, CEO of licensed producer Tilray, was the seventh highest-earning CEO in the country in 2019 with a compensation package worth $18 million. In 2021, Simon’s total compensation reached more than $35 million.

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We’re all familiar with the term “fake news” and have probably witnessed the speed at which these stories can circulate on social media. Fake news stories can be about almost any topic, but increasingly misinformation about illicit drugs is becoming common. But the consequences of such false information can be dangerous – even deadly.

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There tends to be a high level of interest about drug use myths on social media, driven in part by curiosity, but also fear of the unknown as some new and bizarre threat is reported – but often without any evidence to back up the hysteria. Some of this interest will be amplified by algorithms used by social media platforms, which tailor content based on user search history.

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However, this misinformation is also further spread by mainstream media news outlets that pick up on the popularity and publish stories repeating the false information. Misinformation on social media is also easy to access, engaging, and may be shared by friends and family, making it appear more trustworthy. And, for many people, social media is the only place they get their news.

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Dangerous synthetic drugs are common subjects of misleading “fake” news spread on social media. Given their potential dangers, it’s understandable that many people are concerned. This misinformation could be harmful, especially to those who may take the drug.

One such example is the deadly drug fentanyl, an opiate that can be anywhere between 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. A myth that you can overdose even by touching a small amount of this drug spread on social media – and was even perpetuated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, which claimed that touching or inhaling airborne fentanyl could be deadly. As this warning was issued by a government department, many people took this misinformation seriously. It spread quickly and widely on social media even after the medical community agreed that overdose due to fentanyl skin contact is impossible.

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Researchers tracked the spread of information about fentanyl between 2015 and 2019 by using a media analysis tool which was able to track the number of fake news articles created on and spread by social media, and could also track the number of potential views by looking at article shares. They found that erroneous information had a reach of 15 times greater than correct information. Some of this included the myth about how touching the drug could be toxic. Most of this misinformation about fentanyl originated from Facebook posts created in Texas and Pennsylvania, and potentially reached 67 million people.

While fentanyl use might not be common, this sort of misinformation could have dangerous consequences. For example, a person might not help someone who has overdosed if they believe any physical contract with them – even to administer chest compressions – could cause them harm, too.

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Other synthetic drugs, including Krokodyl and “spice” (a type of synthetic cannabis) have also triggered widespread misinformation. Krokodyl has been portrayed on social media as a chemical which can eat your flesh, even after only one use. Spice, on the other hand, has been described in the media as a drug that causes users to rip off their clothes as if it’s given them “superhuman” strength.

While it’s unlikely someone would take a drug knowing it causes severe damage, the idea of using something to gain extraordinary physical strength might entice potential users. In both instances, this information was wrong, but that didn’t stop them from going viral on social media.

It is often the young or naive that are victims of misinformation about some new drug or using a drug to achieve an effect. This is illustrated in a recent case when information about the antihistamine Benadryl was circulated on social media. Users reported that consuming this drug caused hallucinations and would challenge each other to take the drug, sadly at least one person died as a result.

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Beyond these extreme examples, it’s also becoming routine to see misinformation on social media about drugs such as cannabis. In particular, claims being made about cannabis-based medicinal products, which suggest that everything from pain to terminal cancer can be cured. These are made despite the lack of research and evidence that support these assertions. Tragically this type of misinformation offers false hope to people who are often at a very vulnerable point in their life. These false claims are harmful in themselves, but could be really damaging if people choose to stop traditional medical intervention and use these products in the belief that their health will improve.

Misinformation about illicit drugs may also make them sound more appealing to people who aren’t risk adverse. For them the appeal is in the risk that the drug poses. Widely circulated fake news may even be the reason they try these types of drugs to begin with.

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Finding ways of reducing this type of misinformation is important to prevent any dangerous consequences. Social media platforms have an important role to play in regulating information – should they choose to. Educating people in how to spot fake news, and better education for young people in schools about drugs may also prevent the further spread of such harmful misinformation.

We need to accept that there will always be interest in drugs and that false information about them will accompany that curiosity. Social media platforms have the ability to mitigate misinformation, but they may not have the will if an action threatens their commercial interests. So young people and their families are left to separate fact from fiction as they try to reduce the potential risks some drugs pose.

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This story was first published on October 2, 2020

Ian Hamilton, Associate Professor of Addiction., University of York; and Patricia Cavazos-Rehg, Professor of Psychiatry, Washington University in St Louis

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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London-based Indiva is the latest company to catch the attention of Health Canada for producing edible extracts.

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The company has announced Health Canada has requested that Indiva halt the production of its Wild Cherry and Life Lemon THC Lozenges, which were previously available in formats that contained 100 mg, 250 mg, and 500 mg of THC. 

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The lozenges, which contained 10mg of THC each, were classified incorrectly as “extracts” rather than “edibles,” according to the federal agency.

In a press release, Indiva notes that it carefully examined the “regulatory requirements of the legislation” and conducted extensive research before launching the products.

It adds that Indiva has stopped making the lozenges as the company seeks advice from its advisers and considers its next steps. The company notes that it may decide to resume manufacturing these products using alternative packaging formats.

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Edible extracts have been popular among consumers who are seeking a dose that’s higher than the current 10mg THC cap on edibles.

Last August, Indivia was among a number of Canadian cannabis producers who called on Health Canada to readjust the cap.

“The unintended consequence of the 10mg limit is that folks are going back to the illicit market,” Indiva CEO Niel Marotta previously told City News. He added that the limit is “a half-a-billion-dollar market failure and a public safety problem.”

The cap hasn’t budged, though, and some producers worked around the limit by introducing edible extract products, containing up to 500mg of THC per package.

The regulations for edibles and extracts vary significantly. The THC limit for edibles is 10 milligrams per package, regardless of how many pieces are contained in that package. While the same 10 mg limit applies to extracts that are ingested, that is the case per unit or dispensed product. The entire package can contain up to 1,000 mg of THC.

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Health Canada began sending non-compliance letters to several companies asking them to stop selling the products in January, reports Marijuana Business Daily.

As of Tuesday morning, the lozenges and other forms of edible extracts were still available through the government-owned Ontario Cannabis Store.

Last March, the federal government corrected what had long been criticized as bad math regarding its limits on cannabis beverages.

Canadians can now purchase up to 17.1 litres of cannabis drinks at once, or 48 standard-sized drinks, a significant increase from the previous cap of 5 drinks.

Under the previous rules, every 70 grams of a weed beverage counted as one gram of dried cannabis. Meaning a 355 mL drink counted as more than 5 grams of cannabis even if contained only 2.5 mg of THC. Meanwhile, a 30 mL bottle of cannabis oil, containing more than 800 mg of THC, counts as less than a half gram.

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Dave Schlosser, CEO of Truss Beverage Co., previously told The GrowthOp that industry players are now focused on increasing the 10mg THC limit for edibles and drinks.

“I do know for most of the industry that addressing the 10-milligram limit is a big priority,” he said. “That will unlock the ability to sell 6- and 12-packs and drive that average price down.”

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You’ve probably heard that fish have a three-second memory, or that they’re incapable of feeling pain. Neither of these statements is true, but it’s telling that these misconceptions don’t crop up for other vertebrates.

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Perhaps it’s because fish appear so different from us. They don’t seem to have any capacity for facial expression, or vocal communication – and we don’t even breathe the same air. Collectively, these differences put fish so far away from humans that we struggle to relate to them.

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But when scientists have conducted experiments to discover more about fish – including their neurobiology, their social lives and mental faculties – they’ve found time and time again that fish are more complex than they’re often given credit for. Above all, fish seem to have more in common with us than we might like to admit.

In my research I often work with zebrafish – the aquatic lab rat. Here are five fascinating things that I, and other researchers, have discovered about them and their kind.

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1. Fish lose their memory as they age

As humans age, our memories decline. Scientists work to understand the biology of cognitive decline in order to predict how we can help people age better and develop treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

In humans, working memory – the mental process that we use to carry out everyday tasks – declines as we get older. My colleagues and I found something similar when we observed zebrafish at six and 24 months of age swimming around in a Y-shaped maze.

We found that the older fish struggled to navigate the maze compared to younger ones. What’s more, when we designed a virtual version of the task for humans, we found that people in their 70s showed exactly the same deficits as fish.

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2. Fish like the same drugs as humans

I mean, they really like them. Biologists Tristan Darland and John Dowling at Harvard University in the U.S. found that zebrafish, particularly like cocaine, which they tested by dangling the drug in their tank when the fish hung around a certain visual pattern. This preference for cocaine was heritable too. Offspring of fish with a penchant for the drug passed it on to their children – a pattern reported in humans.

Zebrafish also show patterns of compulsive drug-seeking seen in people suffering from addiction. Caroline Brennan’s research group at Queen Mary University of London found that fish would put up with being chased with a net if it meant gaining access to cocaine.

Working with Brennan’s group and Pfizer, we tested a range of other drugs – opiates, stimulants, alcohol and nicotine – to see what zebrafish can tell us about the abuse potential of new drugs (something that has to happen before they’re licensed). It turned out they loved them all.

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Except, that is, THC – the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. It seems zebrafish wouldn’t make great hippies.

3. Fish remember their friends

You probably already know that fish are social animals. They can synchronise their behaviour in schools so that each individual mirrors the movements of their neighbour and the group appears to move as one.

What you probably didn’t know is that individual fish can also recognise another fish from their own group (by smell, typically). Young fish prefer their own relatives, but as they get older, adult females prefer familiar females but unfamiliar males. This ultimately helps to prevent inbreeding.

Fish retain this memory for 24 hours, preferring to approach a new fish rather than the last one they spent time with. This shows that their social memories are strong, blowing the whole “three-second memory” rumour out of the water.

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4. Fish feel pain

They really do. In 2003, biologists Victoria Braithwaite and Lynne Sneddon, then at the University of Edinburgh and the Roslin institute, put acid in the lips of trout. The fish showed classic pain responses – moving away, rubbing their lips on the bottom of the tank, increasing their respiration – which disappeared completely once the fish were given a painkiller.

The question remains though, how do fish experience pain? What does pain mean to the animal? Pain is not just the perception of a physical event, such as stubbing your toe. It is often an emotional experience too. Some researchers think fish don’t experience pain in this way, essentially arguing that although they feel pain, they aren’t mentally capable of having an emotional response to that pain, and so their suffering should concern us less. This is because, they argue, fish lack parts of the brain that, in humans and other higher vertebrates, are associated with the mental experience of pain.

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But this argument is no longer so convincing. Decades of work show that all manner of shapes, sizes and organisations of brain exist in nature, and that many complex behaviours arise in animals lacking the apparent brain structures that have been linked, in humans and other primates, to these higher processes.

In fact, it seems that brain structures themselves may be less important than we thought, so fish could have a more sophisticated experience of the world than we imagine, albeit using a brain that’s quite different to ours.

5. Fish can be impatient

In my lab, we’re interested in something called impulse control. This is someone’s ability to plan their behaviour and wait for the best time to perform it. Poor impulse control is a trait seen in people with a range of psychiatric conditions, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, addiction, or obsessive compulsive disorder.

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We trained zebrafish over several weeks in a series of trials using a purpose-built tank. In each trial, fish had to wait for a light to come on at the opposite end of the tank before they could swim into a chamber to get food. If they swam in early, they were disappointed with no food, and had to start all over again. We saw huge variation in their ability or desire to wait. Some fish were very impatient, while others didn’t mind waiting. We even found that a drug used to treat ADHD also makes fish less impatient.

So, perhaps next time you see a fish you’ll think twice before dismissing it as a waterborne automaton, fit only for tartare sauce and mushy peas.

This story was first published on March 31, 2021

Matt Parker, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Psychopharmacology, University of Portsmouth

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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