Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 6, 2019
Ansgar Rougemont-Bücking, Henrik Jungaberle, Milan Scheidegger et al.
6 citations
Differences in mental health (MH) of users of distinct psychoactive substances have been shown. Both substance use (SU) and MH in users are influenced by stressful life events. This study compared MH parameters in distinct groups of substance users and evaluated the impact of stress factors on these outcomes. Data stem from the longitudinal Swiss Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors...
Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly
March 4, 2019
Alison Knopf
Lasting effects of adolescent cannabis use are even more pronounced than those for alcohol, researchers suggest in a new study of the role of impaired cognition on substance use. According to the study, published in the February issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, both alcohol and cannabis misuse are related to impaired cognition, but is this cause or correlation? To infer cause,...
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
March 1, 2019
Joaquim Soler, Bárbara Arias, Jorge Moya et al.
ABSTRACT The ZNF804A gene and cannabis use are risk factors for psychosis and both have also been associated with schizotypal traits. This study aimed to investigate: i) the association of lifetime cannabis use (and its dose effect) with schizotypal personality traits, and ii) whether the genetic variability at ZNF804A gene modulates that association. Our sample consisted of 385 Spanish...
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
February 27, 2019
Eef L. Theunissen, Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Natasha L. Mason et al.
22 citations
Abstract Introduction: Synthetic cannabinoid mixtures have been easily accessible for years, leading to the belief that these products were natural and harmless, which contributed to their popularity. Nevertheless, there are many reports of users ending up in hospital due to severe side effects such as tachycardia, aggression, and psychosis. Controlled studies on the effects of synthetic...
European Journal of Pain
February 22, 2019
Marie-Odile Krebs, Oussama Kébir, Thérèse M. Jay
56 citations
BACKGROUND: Cannabinoids are proposed in a wide array of medical indications. Yet, the evaluation of adverse effects in controlled clinical studies, following the evidence-based model, has partly been bypassed. On the other hand, studies on the consequences of recreational use of cannabis and experimental studies bring some insights on the potential long-term consequences of cannabinoids use....
Journal of Psychopharmacology
February 21, 2019
Hina Akram, Claire Mokrysz, Helen Valerie Curran
57 citations
BACKGROUND: Synthetic cannabinoids are, typically, full agonists at the cannabinoid CB1 receptor, and therefore considerably more potent than natural cannabis and may have correspondingly more serious psychological effects. Despite government sanctions against their production they continue to be available in ever-increasing varieties over the Internet. The psychological consequences of...
American Journal of Psychiatry
February 1, 2019
Philip D. Harvey
Societal attitudes toward cannabis use are changing rapidly. In the past decade, there has been awide-ranging movement toward removal of criminal sanctions on cannabis use, and in some localities cannabis use is permitted in a regulated manner, similar to alcohol. This movement has raised some concerns about whether we understand the full implications of cannabis use, particularly in younger...
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
January 24, 2019
Claire M. Gorey, Lauren Kuhns, Eleni Smaragdi et al.
118 citations
The impact of cannabis on the adolescent compared to adult brain is of interest to researchers and society alike. From a theoretical perspective, adolescence represents a period of both risk and resilience to the harms of cannabis use and cannabis use disorders. The aim of this systematic review is to provide a critical examination of the moderating role of age on the relationship between...
Journal of Neuroscience
January 14, 2019
Catherine Orr, Philip A. Spechler, Zhipeng Cao et al.
100 citations
Rates of cannabis use among adolescents are high, and are increasing concurrent with changes in the legal status of marijuana and societal attitudes regarding its use. Recreational cannabis use is understudied, especially in the adolescent period when neural maturation may make users particularly vulnerable to the effects of Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on brain structure. In the current...
Human Brain Mapping
January 2019
Dae-Jin Kim, Ashley M. Schnakenberg Martin, Yong-Wook Shin et al.
Cellular studies indicate that endocannabinoid type-1 retrograde signaling plays a major role in synaptic plasticity. Disruption of these processes by delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) could produce alterations either in structural and functional brain connectivity or in their association in cannabis (CB) users. Graph theoretic structural and functional networks were generated with diffusion...
Neuropharmacology
January 2019
Rocio Saravia, Marc Ten-Blanco, Marina Julià-Hernández et al.
Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) consumption during adolescence is reported to be a risk factor for the appearance of psychiatric disorders later in life. The interaction between genetic or environmental events and cannabinoid exposure in the adolescent period can also contribute to exacerbate behavioural deficits in adulthood. Here we investigate the effects of THC treatment as well as the...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
2019
Grace Blest‐hopley, Vincent Giampietro, Sagnik Bhattacharyya
HighlightsAdolescent abstinent cannabis users showed significantly greater activation in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices compared to controls.Adolescent users showed increased activation in regions involved in executive functioning, attentional control and the default mode network compared to non‐using controls.No significant group differences in...
The Science of Marijuana
2019
Leslie Iversen
Abstract The 19th century was a great era for plant chemistry. Many complex drug molecules, known as alkaloids, were isolated and identified from plants. This chapter discusses the history of the discovery of delta-9-tetrahyrocannabinol (THC) as the psychoactive substance in cannabis products and also the discovery of the cannabinoid receptors CB-1 and CB-2 in the body and brain. The mechanism...
The Science of Marijuana
2019
Leslie Iversen
Abstract Although there is currently only limited knowledge of how activation of the CB-1 receptor in brain leads to the many actions of THC, some general features of cannabinoid control mechanisms are emerging. This chapter discusses THC in relation to the inhibition of neurotransmitter release, cardiovascular effects, effects on motility and pain, and behavioral models including the “Billy...
American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
2019
José Manuel Bertolín Guillén
Background. It is scientifically undeniable that there is a relationship between cannabis use, psychoses of different types and other mental disorders. Frequent use of cannabis as well as high potency synthetic cannabis has special clinical significance for public health. Method. A review of the best and most current specialized literature published in order to clarify possible controversies...
Drug Science, Policy and Law
2019
Edward James, Thomas L Robertshaw, Michael J Pascoe et al.
3 citations
Background: Contemporary research indicates that the legal classifications of cannabis (Schedule 2, Class B), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (Schedule 1, Class A) and psilocybin (Schedule 1, Class A) in the United Kingdom are not entirely based on considerations of harm and therapeutic utility. The legal classifications of the substances discussed are typically determined by...