The New Science of Pot and Appetite
Researchers are trying to untangle the surprisingly complex relationship between pot and appetite
Economists recently noticed an intriguing trend in American food purchasing. Convenience stores in about 2,000 of the United States’ 3,200 or so counties saw a jump in junk food sales between 2006 and 2016. Potato chips rang up an average sales climb of 5.3% in these counties, and ice cream and cookies weren’t far behind. For stores in the other 1,200 counties, it was business as usual throughout that time period as far as calorie-bomb snacks go, according to a study from the University of Connecticut published in February.
The researchers behind the study argue that the strangely selective geography of amped-up purchasing of packaged sugar and fat can neatly be explained in one word: munchies. The indulgent counties were all in or close to states that legalized recreational marijuana at some point during that 10-year time period, just before sales surged.
The study is a striking way to validate the phenomenon of pot-fueled food cravings. Given what scientists know about how appetite is affected by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the main active ingredient in pot and the one responsible for the “high” — the new data fits well with the experiences of hundreds of millions of…
