A clinical and metabolic study of acute intoxication with Cannabis sativa and its role in the model psychoses.

This paper describes an inquiry into the effects of giving oral doses of the narcotic drug variously known as hashish, marijuana and, in South Africa, dagga. The drug is a preparation from the plant Cannabis sativa whose narcotic effect has been known for centuries. The writer’s interest in it was inspired by the work in recent years on the mental disturbances produced by the active principles of other plants, e.g. mescaline and lysergic acid. Because of the similarity of these changes to those occurring in conditions such as schizophrenia, some workers have suggested that these “model psychoses” could be used as a research tool in attempts to elucidate the mechanisms and causes of the naturally occurring psychoses. Although there has been a great deal of work on mescaline and lysergic acid, cannabis has not received much attention. This may be because its chemistry is still not fully worked out and preparations of the plant are difficult to standardize and vary in their potency. Cannabis is widely though illegally grown in South Africa and there is no difficulty in getting supplies from the police for research purposes. Because of possible dangers, such as addiction, in using the drug, research was confined to volunteers from the medical staff of Groote Schuur Hospital, the teaching hospital attached to the University of Cape Town. This also had the advantage that all volunteers, being medically trained, were