Human Psychopharmacology
September 1, 2025
Renée Martin-Willett, Carillon J. Skrzynski, Angela D Bryan et al.
This study examined the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) on negative mood and drinking behaviors, and whether those effects were moderated by levels of perceived discrimination among participants who identify with a racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual identity that is underrepresented in research. Participants were either not using cannabis, using cannabis with THC, or...
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
July 1, 2025
Richard G. Hunter, Annelise Madison, Jonathon K. Lisano et al.
Introduction Inflammation has been implicated as an underlying pathology in negative affect and sleep disruption. Cannabinoids like delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) have demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties. This study aimed to assess if cannabis use altered cytokine concentration and whether inflammatory status moderated the influence of 4 weeks of cannabis use on...
Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science
July 1, 2025
Yalin Sun, Meenalochani Sivasubramanian, Marija Milenkovic et al.
Adolescent-onset cannabis use confers higher risk for neuropsychiatric disorders, implicating amygdala dysfunction. However, the mechanisms that mediate Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-triggered neuroadaptive changes in the maturing amygdala remain unclear. Proteomic analysis of amygdala tissue from male adolescent Saimiri boliviensis nonhuman primates chronically treated with THC provided leads...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
June 18, 2025
Maria Bălăeţ, William Trender, Annalaura Lerede et al.
2 citations
Mental health implications of COVID-19 drug use patterns are still unclear. We used data-driven clustering in a large citizen science cohort recruited agnostically to an interest in drug-use to categorise people according to common patterns of drug use and analysed their mental health symptoms (GAD-7 and PHQ-9 items), from recruitment prior to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 (N = 242,260) to...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
February 20, 2025
Broc A. Pagni, Andreas Halman, Jerome Sarris et al.
7 citations
The durability of ayahuasca's effects on mental health and the influence of clinical diagnoses on therapeutic response is unclear. Adults with no prior exposure to ayahuasca (n = 66) participating in neo-shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies completed questionnaires at baseline, 7 days, and 1, 6, and 12 months. Mixed models were used to characterize temporal trajectories in mental health, alcohol and...
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
February 1, 2025
Margy Y. Chen, Emily B Kramer, Laurel P Gibson et al.
Objective: Cannabis has been touted for a host of pharmacological and therapeutic effects and users commonly report reduced symptoms of physical and mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. While there is existing empirical evidence supporting these effects of cannabis use, little is known about the extent to which these effects result from pharmacological...
Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids
February 23, 2024
Alexander Beletsky, Cherry Liu, Bryson Lochte et al.
Abstract Introduction: Cannabis has been reported to have both anxiogenic and anxiolytic effects. Habitual cannabis use has been associated with anxiety disorders (AD). The causal pathways and mechanisms underlying the association between cannabis use (CU)/cannabis use disorder (CUD) and anxiety remain unclear. We examined the literature via a systematic review to investigate the link between...
Psychological Medicine
November 2023
Matthew N Hill, Margaret Haney, Cecilia J Hillard et al.
Cannabis is well established to impact affective states, emotion and perceptual processing, primarily through its interactions with the endocannabinoid system. While cannabis use is quite prevalent in many individuals afflicted with psychiatric illnesses, there is considerable controversy as to whether cannabis may worsen these conditions or provide some form of therapeutic benefit. The...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
September 18, 2023
Samantha Hurn
This report documents the case of a patient (the author) participating in a clinical trial of medical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.)-the Sapphire Access Scheme, run by the Sapphire Medical Clinic as part of the UK Medical Cannabis Registry-to explore the impacts of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) on anxiety. For most of my life, I have experienced often very serious bouts of poor...
Current Addiction Reports
September 8, 2023
Anna Ross, Jake Hawthorn
Abstract Purpose of Review The use of certain illicit substances as a form of therapy, and particularly as an adjunct to psychotherapy, has gained increasing media and academic attention over the last decade, culminating in what has been coined “the psychedelic renaissance.” This section in Current Addiction Reports has been developed in order to highlight the new and emerging research around...