The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a dosing guideline for Dronabinol (synthetic THC, also knows as Marinol) of 30-90mg per day.
Donald Abrams of the University of California at San Francisco and colleagues in their paper “Medical Cannabis: Rational Guidelines for Dosing”, directly applied these guidelines to herbal cannabis and calculated how much would need to be smoked in order to achieve the FDA’s recommended daily dosage.
For average cannabis that is 10 per cent THC, 1.85 grams per day would be required for a dose of 30mg THC, or 5.55 grams for a dose of 90mg THC.
For cannabis that is particularly potent, such as 20 per cent THC, 0.93 grams would be required to achieve a dose of 30mg THC, or 2.79 grams for a dose of 90mg THC.
That’s a range of from 339 grams to 2 kilos per patient per year.
Abrams said these amounts are consistent with amounts reported by patients. In surveys from patients in Washington and California, the average reported consumption of cannabis by medicinal users typically ranges between 10 – 20 g per week, or approximately 1.42 to 2.86g per day.
At New Zealand street prices this equates to around $100 to $400 per week. That’s why for many patients growing their own is the best solution to hard-to-find and expensive marijuana supplies.
More information is at:
US NORML
Americans for Safe Access Guide to Using Medicinal Cannabis
FDA prescribing information for Marinol (dronabinol)