View clinical trials related to Marijuana Abuse.
Filter by:Smoking cigarettes remains the number one preventable cause of death and disease in the US. Smokers who call tobacco quitlines and use marijuana struggle to quit tobacco due to the interactive effects of nicotine and marijuana. A recent study found that 25% of callers to state quitlines said they were using marijuana and 44% of those were interested in quitting or cutting back their marijuana use (in addition to wanting to quit smoking). The investigators propose to develop an integrated intervention for co-users of marijuana and tobacco to be delivered via state-funded quitlines. The investigators will incorporate key elements of an evidence-based brief behavioral intervention called 'The Marijuana Check-Up' into the tobacco quitline treatment. The investigators will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effects of the new intervention in a small randomized pilot study with 100 co-users recruited from four participating state quitlines. Outcomes measured at 3 months post randomization will include tobacco abstinence (biochemically verified) and days used marijuana. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will: (1) be feasible to deliver (measured by coach treatment fidelity scores); (2) be acceptable to co-users (measured by enrollments into the study and call completion numbers); (3) increase tobacco cessation rates compared with standard quitline treatment; (4) increase co-users motivation to change MJ use; and (5) produce greater reduction in days using MJ compared with standard quitline treatment. The proposed brief behavioral intervention addressing co-use may increase quitline callers' chances of achieving and maintaining tobacco abstinence and increase participants' motivation to reduce marijuana use. As non-medicinal marijuana use becomes common and legal in more states, a low touch phone and web-based intervention for co-users of marijuana and tobacco could improve health outcomes for many. Findings will inform development of scalable public health intervention strategies for co-users easily implemented across quitlines.
Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is a significant and expanding health problem, and no FDA approved treatments are currently available. Persons with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may use cannabis to help control symptoms. Relief from PTSD insomnia, nightmares, anxiety, and preoccupying thoughts have been reported as troublesome symptoms targeted by cannabis users. Risks from cannabis use by individuals with PTSD have been reported. Chronic use of cannabis can lead to tolerance, requiring increased use for symptom relief, and withdrawal symptoms upon stopping. CUD is more frequent and severe in those with PTSD than those without. Many symptoms of cannabis withdrawal overlap with troubling symptoms of PTSD and thus may be interpreted as a relapse of PTSD symptoms. Those attempting to reduce or stop cannabis use may experience cannabis withdrawal symptoms including insomnia and distressing dreams, anxiety, irritability, and/or excessive sweating that they may misattribute to re-emerging or untreated PTSD symptoms. Excessive brain adrenaline activity is arguably the best-described neurobiological contribution to the pathophysiology of PTSD. Prazosin, a drug that blocks the negative effects of brain adrenaline, has demonstrated effectiveness in robustly reducing PTSD-related nightmares and sleep disturbance in active duty Servicemembers and recently discharged combat Veterans in most, but not all, clinical trials, as well as in civilians with non-combat trauma. Clinically, the investigators have observed that several patients with PTSD using cannabis to treat insomnia and/or trauma-related nightmares and wanting to reduce their cannabis use were able to achieve reduction or cessation of cannabis use once they were treated with an effective dose of prazosin. Therefore, we have wondered if prazosin may provide sufficient treatment of PTSD symptoms otherwise targeted by cannabis, supporting those individuals' efforts to reduce cannabis use. This open-label pilot study aims to study the feasibility of prazosin as a treatment for CUD in individuals with or without comorbid PTSD, and to evaluate if additional research on a larger scale is warranted.
Tobacco and cannabis co-use is a common and growing public health problem, especially in states that have legalized cannabis. There are no pharmacologic treatments for co-occurring tobacco and cannabis use. Co-use may make quitting either substance more difficult, given the synergistic effects of cannabis and nicotine on neurobiological systems that mediate reward and shared cues reinforcing co-use. N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an FDA-approved medication and over-the-counter supplement, has shown promise in animal studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in reducing tobacco and cannabis craving and use.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling psychiatric disorder that affects 20%-30% of U.S. Veterans. PTSD is strongly associated with increased risk for substance abuse comorbidity, including cannabis use disorder. Multiple states now include PTSD as a condition for which patients can be legally prescribed medical marijuana, despite the fact that there has not been a single large-scale randomized clinical trial demonstrating the efficacy of cannabis to treat PTSD to date. The overall objective of the current proposal is to study the impact of reduced cannabis use on functioning among Veterans with PTSD. The investigators will evaluate the relationship between cannabis use and daily functioning among cannabis users and heavy cannabis users. The central hypothesis is that reductions in cannabis use will lead to positive changes in the functional outcomes of Veterans. The rationale for this research is that it will provide the first and only real-time data concerning the impact of reduced cannabis use on daily functioning among Veterans with PTSD.
Cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive substance around the world after alcohol and tobacco. Although approximately one in ten users develop serious problems of dependency, only a small number attend outpatient addiction counseling centers. CANreduce is an adherence-focused guidance enhanced web-based self-help program with promising results in German and other languages. It also reaches those users who hesitate to approach such treatment centers and help them to reduce their cannabis use. This study will test the effectiveness of the Spanish version of the enhanced web-based self-help intervention with psychological support, an enhanced web-based self-help intervention (without psychological support) and a waiting list control in reducing cannabis use in problematic users.
This is a randomized, crossover study enrolling experienced dual cannabis-tobacco smokers (N=18) to describe the differences in THC and toxicant exposure, examining pharmacokinetic, subjective, and cardiovascular effects from smoking and vaping dry herb cannabis. This study will also examine the differences in toxicant exposure and cardiovascular disease risk between smoking cannabis and smoking tobacco cigarettes.
Cannabis is the most frequently consumed drug in France and its use continues to increase. Over the 18-64 age group as a whole, experimentation with cannabis at least once in a lifetime increased from 33% in 2010 to 42% in 2014, confirming the upward trend observed since the 1990. Cannabis, like all drugs, disrupts the reward circuit whose neurons originate in the ventral tegmental area and project into the mesolimbic and cortical structures. Acute cannabis use is thought to increase mesolimbic dopamine by affecting the Gabaergic or Glutamatergic system. Chronic cannabis use usurps the reward system and leads to changes in the mesolimbic circuit (nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex), inducing increased craving, with persistent craving for the substance and vulnerability to relapse. Cognitively, addiction is associated with increased impulsivity, with a propensity to take risks leading to impaired decision-making. There is currently no validated drug treatment for cannabis addiction. Non-invasive brain stimulation could be an interesting therapeutic alternative.
Epidemiological studies suggest that the use of cannabis is associated with an increase in the risk of motor vehicle collisions. It is also known that younger users may be at increased risk for motor vehicle collisions. Further, the frequency with which cannabis is used may be an important variable in determining the effects of cannabis on driving. The purpose of the present study will be to investigate the effects of cannabis on simulated driving in young as compared to middle-aged drivers. Half of the participants will be occasional users of cannabis and half will be frequent users of cannabis.
This study tests the effects of cannabinoid levels in blood on inflammation and insulin sensitivity both acutely and chronically in individuals across the weight spectrum. To that end, the study employs two observational designs: 1) A study of acute effects with intermittent cannabis users and 2) A study in which current cannabis users will select one of three cannabis strains for four weeks and are compared to a matched control group who do not use cannabis to study chronic effects. Blood levels of THC and CBD, inflammatory biomarkers, and insulin resistance will be measured in both studies.
This trial examines the efficacy of cannabidiol (CBD) versus risperidone for treatment of psychosis in patients with non affective-psychosis and lifetime use of cannabis.