The majority of edible medical marijuana products on the market are mislabeled, according to a recent study.

A team led by a Johns Hopkins researcher found that some medical cannabis patients could be unintentionally overdosing or are being cheated by mislabeled pot products. Their findings also showed that the active chemicals in these products "can vary from 1 to 155 percent the amount listed on the product label," Forbes reported.

"The concern is that people are purchasing a product, and not getting what they are paying for," Ryan Vandrey, lead author of the study, told HealthDay. "These are individuals who are using cannabis for a medical benefit, and they won't get the benefit if the drug is not in there."

For the study, Vandrey teamed up with an independent laboratory and analyzed 75 different edible cannabis products -- baked goods, beverages and candy/chocolates -- representing 47 different brands. The products were legally purchased from a sample of three medical dispensaries in each of three cities: Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.They compared the THC content t listed on product labels with the laboratory measures.

They found that only 17 percent of the products they sampled were accurately labeled when it came to THC content, CBS News reported.

Researchers said patients who consume overlabeled are not getting what they paid for, while those who purchase underlabeled products, or edibles that contain more THC than is stated on the label, could suffer from overdosing side effects.

"Consuming greater than expected doses of THC can increase the risk of experiencing harmful side effects such as acute panic/paranoia, vomiting, even short-term periods of psychosis and/or hallucinations," Vandrey told CBS News. "Individuals may also become too intoxicated to readily perform routine daily activities such as work, drive a car, or take care of dependents. These effects can last for several hours."

Vandrey said this study shows that "the states that have medical marijuana laws need to account for the quality and testing of medical marijuana products sold to their residents." Currently, 23 states and Washington D.C. "have laws permitting marijuana for medical use, each with their own set of regulations," CBS News reported.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of the American Medical Association.