Repeated Oral THC Increased Daily Dose by Changing Administration Frequency
The intensive oral-THC regimen repeatedly used 20 mg capsules while shortening the intervals between administrations. A higher daily total did not mean every individual capsule dose became larger.
The schedule defined exposure
Six daily cannabis users received dronabinol at increasing frequency, with intervals described as every four to eight hours and daily totals of 40–120 mg. Treatment occurred on a secure unit, with collection times specified relative to dosing. When collection and dosing coincided, the sample was drawn first.
Daily amount and single-dose amount are different
Two regimens can have the same daily total but different peak and trough patterns. Changing frequency also changes the time since the preceding dose at a given sample. The study’s concentration profiles therefore cannot be summarized solely as the response to one 20 mg exposure or a single escalating capsule dose.
Limits on another exposure
This was a small pharmacokinetic experiment in established users, not a prescription for cannabis-naive people or a typical one-time edible. Its findings do not provide a universal dose conversion, adherence threshold or impairment limit. A forensic interpretation should retain the complete schedule, specimen matrix and sampling times rather than assigning every measured concentration to the most recent capsule alone.
Related analysis: the repeated oral-THC plasma profiles.
Research cited
Schwilke and colleagues (2009). THC, 11-Hydroxy-THC, and THC-COOH Plasma Pharmacokinetics during and after Continuous High-Dose Oral THC. DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2008.122119.
