THC O- a 1 person mini experiment

[Guitarpickin]

I got my THC O in the mail last Monday and have taken it all week. Here are my personal conclusions. Keep in mind this is just my experience. It may differ for others.

DOES IT WORK: Yes. It seems to have the same efficacy, mg to mg, as normal THC.

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT: No. Not if you have other options or are successfully being treated in other ways, for reasons outlined below.

WHAT IS IT: THC O (also called ATHC, short for THC-O-Acetate) is a synthetic form of THC that is currently in a gray area of legality, and is somehow not considered a controlled substance at this time (at least not in the USA). This is a description I found online: “It is a semi-synthetic compound not present in cannabis. It’s purely man made with a questionable level of safety.”

THE NITTY GRITTY: The brand I tried was Premuim Jane, because I’m familiar with the company and they make high quality products. However, from this brand, each 25 mg gummy is actually 2 servings, per the packaging, which is weird. Why didn’t they just make smaller pieces? It’s $48 for 30 pieces=60 servings. However, I found that 1/4 of a gummy was a good substitute for my normal 5 mg of THC.

Online, they speak of hallucinogenic or psychedelic effects. I did not experience this in any way. It’s difficult for me to describe the way THC O makes me feel, except to say I like it. It was a welcome change because I do not like how regular THC makes me feel. THC O also makes me feel tired, which I really appreciate, as my sole purpose for taking any medicine is to help me sleep.

The reason I’m hesitant to recommend it or even use it frequently myself is because there are virtually no studies about it’s safety. It may be harder on our liver than regular THC. And almost everyone in this forum is already using some type of drug to deal with their symptoms and we know nothing of the way THC O interacts other medications. All this made me feel like a Guinea pig (I hope that’s an expression understood by folks from other countries).

For me, my personal routine has been to take 100 mg gabapentin an hour or two before bed, and a 5 mg indica THC gummy(preferably made with added CBN for sleep), followed by a 45 min leg and back stretching routine. I was able to successfully substitute 1/4 of the THC O gummy for my normal 5 mg THC gummy. However, my favorite thing about the THC O was that if I took half a gummy (approximately 12.5 mg), I was able to sleep without having to do my 45 min leg and back stretches before bed!! For this reason, I will probably try to keep THC O on hand for as long as it is available (meaning not illegal) to use on nights where rolling around on the floor for 45 min isn’t feasible. Unless of course future studies reveal it is dangerous or something.

If anyone else has experience with THC O, please share.

[grassgree]

Thanks for posting.

[Goldy700]

I have always avoided synthetic versions of natures medicine. I remember when women would take Progestin which was a synthetic version of Progesterone and it caused massive health problems. All this because pharma could not patent anything which was natural so they changed a very important molecule. Same with cannabis which contains very beneficial terpenes, and other compounds. Medically prescribed Cannabis is definitely a wonder medicine for my RLS as it calms my legs and sends me to sleep. There is no doubt though that there is a huge range of varieties and I have found over the years that dry herb vaping is the most effective for me. The good news is that there are many varieties that are specifically bred to induce sleep and body calm without psychoactive effect and I have no side effects there next day.

[Guitarpickin in reply to Goldy700]

Thanks for your input Goldy700. I don’t remember ever hearing about Progestin, but I’m curious now, and will look into it.

I agree, for those of us who can get normal THC (especially full spectrum), it’s best to stick with that. It truly is a miraculous drug. When I bought the THC O, I hadn’t looked into it at all. I merely assumed it was some new form/strain of THC or something.

Learning it was synthetic was a surprise, but not all things synthetic are bad. My neurologist has previously prescribed marinol (another form of synthetic THC) because he didn’t want me using THC edibles. Marinol was too strong for me and was very similar to the “high” of THC (not a fan) so I went back to the edibles.

The scary thing about THC O is the part where it’s untested, leaving us unclear on potential complications (like what you referenced with Progestin) or problems with drug interactions. These are very big unknowns and are cause for extreme caution.

You and I are very lucky because we can get our hands on pure cannabis. My heart goes out to community members who haven't been able to try it to see if it helps them. Fingers crossed that one day it will be legal everywhere!

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and experience with vaping! I’m very happy it works for you. It’s wonderful to have something so safe and reliably effective!

[WelbyB]

You write well with some interesting questions. I don't have any experience with THC-O. But I may have insight about good old "mother nature" bud. I have also found that a high THC indica with the sleepy CBD helps me about 10-20%. Smoking rather than edibles seems to work better for me. It will only work once a day. This was verified by my doctor who is one of the top RLS experts in the world as well as the RLS newsletter. Sometimes I wonder about the effect of RLS for long term pot smokers. One half baked theory is that THC high triggers some dopamine release which calms down the symptoms. I wonder if it might burn out some of the dopamine receptors with chronic use. It only lasts a 1/2 hour. About 3-4 hits seems to be the level of diminishing returns.

Guitar playing is another temporary RLS cure for me. It seems to take the concentration away from the RLS symptoms if I have enough energy to actually do it well in the middle of the night. What do you think?