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What Is THCV? The Truth About “Diet Weed,” Energy, and Getting High

We asked professionals about THCV’s association with energy and appetite suppression, plus whether or not it gets you high.

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THCV has one of the boldest sales pitches in cannabis and hemp right now. Depending on the package, it’s supposed to give you energy, sharpen your focus, keep you productive, and stop you from demolishing every snack in the house. Somewhere along the way, that turned into “diet weed,” which doesn’t really sound like science, but more like something cooked up during a marketing meeting.

I’ve watched THCV show up in gummies, vapes, and cannabinoid blends positioned for daytime use. The appeal is obvious: weed that supposedly helps you get shit done instead of becoming couch locked.

THCV is a real, naturally occurring cannabinoid, but a lot of the language surrounding it stretches far beyond what researchers have established in people. It’s not simply skinny THC, nor has it been proven to work like a stimulant, weight-loss supplement, or built-in off switch for getting too high.

So, before buying something because THCV is printed across the package, let’s break down what it is, how it differs from THC, what the research actually says, and where the marketing gets ahead of the evidence.

THCV stands for tetrahydrocannabivarin, one of the many cannabinoids cannabis produces naturally. Most plants contain much less THCV than THC or CBD, which is why it’s considered a minor cannabinoid.

Despite the recent attention, THCV is not new. Researchers identified it in hashish more than 50 years ago, in a paper published in Nature in 1971. What is newer is the availability of products made with enough THCV to advertise it as a selling point.

Its name makes it sound like another form of THC, but the two are separate compounds. “THCV is chemically related to THC, but it is not simply ‘another THC,’” Dr. Chad Johnson, Executive Director and one of my favorite grad school professors at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics program, told VICE. “That small chemical difference changes how the molecule interacts with cannabinoid receptors in the body.”

He further explains that THCV has a three-carbon side chain, compared with THC’s five-carbon side chain. That seemingly small distinction changes how it interacts with cannabinoid receptors and helps explain why its effects cannot simply be assumed to match THC’s.

THCV vs. THC: What’s the Difference?

THCV and THC may look almost identical on a label, but they don’t act the same way in the body. THC activates CB1 receptors in the brain, which is largely responsible for the high most people associate with cannabis. THCV is harder to sum up because its receptor activity appears to change with the dose.

“At lower doses, it appears to block CB1 receptor activity, while at higher doses it may act more like a weak activator at CB1,” Dr. Johnson said. That doesn’t mean a few extra milligrams will suddenly turn THCV into regular THC. Researchers still don’t know exactly where that shift happens in people or how consistently it translates to products sold in stores.

So, does THCV get you high? Probably not in the way most consumers mean it—at least at the lower doses studied so far.

In one small placebo-controlled trial in 2015, 10 men took 10mg (average single dose )of purified THCV, or a placebo daily for five days. On its own, the THCV was “subjectively indistinguishable from placebo.” Dr. Dustin Hines, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, explained to VICE that higher doses may produce mild THC-like effects, but the limited human evidence suggests they are much weaker than those caused by THC.

THCV may also change how THC feels when the two are taken together. In that same trial, participants received a small intravenous (IV) dose of THC on the fifth day. Nine out of 10 said the THC felt weaker or less intense after taking THCV, and THCV reduced some of THC’s effects on heart rate and verbal memory. But it also increased certain memory errors, meaning it didn’t simply cancel the THC out.

This is important to keep in mind because many THCV products also contain THC. THCV might alter parts of a THC high, especially at lower doses, but it shouldn’t be treated like an antidote to being high. The presence of THCV doesn’t guarantee that a gummy, vape, or pre-roll will be non-intoxicating.

Binoid THCV........

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