Human Drug Discrimination: Elucidating the Neuropharmacology of Commonly Abused Illicit Drugs.
B Levi Bolin, Joseph L Alcorn, Anna R Reynolds, Joshua A Lile, William W Stoops, Craig R Rush
Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 2018 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2016_10 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Cannabis |
| Keywords | Abuse potential Amphetamines Cocaine Drug discrimination Humans Medications development Neuropharmacology Opioids Pharmacotherapy Subject-rated effects Substance abuse |
| Key findings | The chapter argues that drug-discrimination procedures offer a selective way to study the neuropharmacological mechanisms underlying the interoceptive effects of drugs, and that human drug-discrimination research has been used to characterize the discriminative-stimulus effects of stimulants, opioids, and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol. The authors conclude with observations on the current state and future directions of this research. |
Abstract
Drug-discrimination procedures empirically evaluate the control that internal drug states have over behavior. They provide a highly selective method to investigate the neuropharmacological underpinnings of the interoceptive effects of drugs in vivo. As a result, drug discrimination has been one of the most widely used assays in the field of behavioral pharmacology. Drug-discrimination procedures have been adapted for use with humans and are conceptually similar to preclinical drug-discrimination techniques in that a behavior is differentially reinforced contingent on the presence or absence of a specific interoceptive drug stimulus. This chapter provides a basic overview of human drug-discrimination procedures and reviews the extant literature concerning the use of these procedures to elucidate the underlying neuropharmacological mechanisms of commonly abused illicit drugs (i.e., stimulants, opioids, and cannabis) in humans. This chapter is not intended to review every available study that used drug-discrimination procedures in humans. Instead, when possible, exemplary studies that used a stimulant, opioid, or Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (the primary psychoactive constituent of cannabis) to assess the discriminative-stimulus effects of drugs in humans are reviewed for illustrative purposes. We conclude by commenting on the current state and future of human drug-discrimination research.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on cannabis, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Causal association between cannabis and psychosis: examination of the evidence | 2004 | Review | |
| Cannabis sativa: A comprehensive ethnopharmacological review of a medicinal plant with a long history. General (historical and pharmacological review) | 2018 | Review | |
| Psychiatric effects of cannabis | 2001 | Review | |
| Beyond THC: The New Generation of Cannabinoid Designer Drugs | 2011 | Review | |
| Cannabidiol, a Cannabis sativa constituent, as an antipsychotic drug | 2006 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cites 16
- Amphetamine-type central nervous system stimulants release norepinephrine more potently than they release dopamine and serotonin Synapse 2000
- Separate and combined effects of the GABAA positive allosteric modulator diazepam and Δ⁹-THC in humans discriminating Δ⁹-THC. Drug and Alcohol Dependence October 1, 2014
- Differentiation between low- and high-efficacy CB1 receptor agonists using a drug discrimination protocol for rats. Psychopharmacology February 2014
- Separate and combined effects of the GABA(B) agonist baclofen and Δ9-THC in humans discriminating Δ9-THC. Drug and Alcohol Dependence November 1, 2012
- Separate and combined effects of the GABA reuptake inhibitor tiagabine and Δ9-THC in humans discriminating Δ9-THC. Drug and Alcohol Dependence April 1, 2012
and 11 more in the library