Use patterns, beliefs, experiences, and behavioral economic demand of indica and sativa cannabis: A cross-sectional survey of cannabis users.

Abstract

Cannabis products available for retail purchase are often marketed based on purported plant species (e.g., "indica" or "sativa"). The cannabis industry frequently claims that indica versus sativa cannabis elicits unique effects and/or is useful for different therapeutic indications. Few studies have evaluated use patterns, beliefs, subjective experiences, and situations in which individuals use indica versus sativa. A convenience sample of cannabis users (n = 179) was surveyed via Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk). Participants were asked about their prior use of, subjective experiences with, and opinions on indica versus sativa cannabis and completed hypothetical purchasing tasks for both cannabis subtypes. Participants reported a greater preference to use indica in the evening and sativa in the morning and afternoon. Participants were more likely to perceive feeling "sleepy/ tired" or "relaxed" after using indica and "alert," "energized," and "motivated" after using sativa. Respondents were more likely to endorse wanting to use indica if they were going to sleep soon but more likely to use sativa at a party. Hypothetical purchasing patterns (i.e., grams of cannabis purchased as a function of escalating price) did not differ between indica and sativa, suggesting that demand was similar. Taken together, cannabis users retrospectively report feeling different effects from indica and sativa; however, demand generally did not differ between cannabis subtypes, suggesting situational factors could influence whether someone uses indica or sativa. Placebo-controlled, blinded studies are needed to characterize the pharmacodynamics and chemical composition of indica and sativa cannabis and to determine whether user expectancies contribute to differences in perceived indica/sativa effects. Public Health SignificanceCannabis users retrospectively reported feeling different effects from indica versus sativa cannabis; however, demand for the two cannabis subtypes was similar on hypothetical purchasing tasks, suggesting situational factors could influence whether someone uses indica or sativa. Controlled laboratory studies are needed to confirm whether indica and sativa cannabis does indeed elicit different subjective effects and to clarify the role of user expectancies on altering the perceived effects of these two types of cannabis. Taken together, these steps may inform future regulatory decisions regarding cannabis-related marketing nomenclatures like indica and sativa.

The Use of Cannabinoids for Insomnia in Daily Life: Naturalistic Study

“…Among consumers, the terms sativa , indica , and hybrid are used colloquially and are associated with perceived effects [ 37 ]. Sativa has been associated with stimulating effects, indica with sedating effects, and hybrids are perceived to be bred from the former two to fit the more personalized needs of consumers [ 23 , 24 , 35 , 37 ]. Interestingly, a recent study collected data characterizing various commercial products classified as sativa , indica , or hybrid and used supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms to subjective effect tags [ 36 ].…”

“…Instead, many researchers hold that the differences in perceived effects between strain categories may be owing to other components of cannabis (ie, terpenes), which are rarely accurately reported to consumers [ 34 , 36 , 38 , 39 ]. Interestingly, some studies have found that products labeled as indica and sativa have similar concentrations of major cannabinoids but distinctly different concentrations of terpenes [ 23 , 40 , 41 ]. To date, hundreds of different cannabinoids and terpenes have been identified, all with varying pharmacological properties and outcomes [ 38 , 42 ].…”

“…Despite this, consumers greatly rely on product labels for information on the cannabis content of a product, often using these labels to communicate preferences for desired effects [ 24 , 35 , 36 ]. One study even reported that demand for indica and sativa products was similar, with hypothetical purchasing tasks suggesting that consumer decisions were determined by the perceived effects of each strain in the context or setting of the typical activity-based purpose [ 23 ]. Unfortunately, because the Strainprint app prepopulates product data from multiple sources, variability across products is an issue, and we were unable to measure the accuracy of cannabinoid content for each product.…”

“…Although few clinical trials have objectively analyzed cannabinoids for sleep with sleep outcomes as primary measures, some preliminary trials have shown that administration of THC and THC-derivatives, alone or in combination with CBD, were associated with subjective improvement in sleep outcomes [11][12][13]. In addition, previous studies examining strain preferences have also reported increased preferences toward indica strains for sleep [14,23,24]. In one study, indica was preferred for sedation and sleep, whereas sativa was preferred to increase energy [14].…”

“…However, years of breeding and hybridization have rendered potential distinctions often meaningless [34][35][36][37]. As recreational cannabis use has become increasingly popular, commercialization of the plant has led to the emergence of products marketed as derivatives or hybrids of these species [23,35,36]. Among consumers, the terms sativa, indica, and hybrid are used colloquially and are associated with perceived effects [37].…”