Background: Despite tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)’s reputation for creating dramatic effects at high doses, empirical work rarely addresses cannabis’s impact on subjective responses common to the tryptamine psychedelics. We focused on these effects because they have preceded and covaried with the therapeutic impact of psilocybin in previous work. Aims: The current study examined if self-reported...
Psychocentrum ReviewMarch 25, 2021Ramchandra Lamba, Sona Budaniya, Rajendera Kumar Acharya et al.
Use of cannabis for recreational, religious and cultures has been prevalent since ancient times. It is one of the commonest used illicit substance. While not all cannabis users develop psychiatric problems, heavy cannabis use may increase the risk of cognitive abnormalities, psychotic illness and mood disorders. This research aimed to evaluate severity of various psychotic symptoms in relation...
Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are one of the most frequent classes of new psychoactive substances monitored by the EU Early Warning System and World Health Organization. UR-144 is a SC with a relative low affinity for the CB1 receptor with respect to that for the CB2 receptor. As with other cannabinoid receptor agonists, it has been monitored by the EU Early Warning System since 2012 for severe...
IMPORTANCE: There is a pressing need for development of novel pharmacology for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Given increasing use of medical cannabis among US military veterans to self-treat PTSD, there is strong public interest in whether cannabis may be a safe and effective treatment for PTSD. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to collect preliminary data on...
Abstract Hypotheses about the link between cannabis use and psychosis apply to the within-person level but have been tested mostly at the between-person level. We used a within-person design, in which a person serves as his own control, thus removing the need to consider confounding by any fixed (genetic and nongenetic) characteristic to study the prospective association between cannabis use...
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a diagnosis of extreme anxiety caused by a traumatic event. Less than 10% of individuals who have experienced severe trauma will develop this disorder. Treatment options include various psychotherapies, but not all patients respond to them. Different pharmacological approaches have been explored as potential adjuvants, including using cannabinoids to...
Abstract The prevalence of cannabis use among older adults (aged 65 and above) for both recreational and medicinal purposes has significantly increased in recent years. Information regarding the safety of cannabis in this population is important since aging is associated with metabolic changes, multiple morbidities, increases in prescription medication use, and an overall decline in...
Cannabis use during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis. According to a current hypothesis, this results from detrimental effects of early cannabis use on brain maturation during this vulnerable period. However, studies investigating the interaction between early cannabis use and brain structural alterations hitherto reported inconclusive findings. We...
March 1, 2021Benjamin J. Warnick, Alexander S. Kier, Emily M LaFrance et al.
Abstract New venture ideation is critical to the entrepreneurial process. To generate creative ideas, some entrepreneurs turn to cannabis, proposing its benefits. However, extant research has not validated such claims. Using a new venture ideation task, we explore differences between cannabis users' and non-users' creativity in new venture ideation by assessing the originality and feasibility...
ABSTRACT: Individuals with first episode psychosis (FEP) use cannabis at high rates. A family-based intervention grounded in motivational interviewing (MI) appears promising. Focus groups ( N = 3) were conducted with family members ( n = 8) of individuals with FEP. Questions were developed based on theory of planned behavior (TPB) to identify factors contributing to intentions to utilize MI to...
Substance AbuseFebruary 22, 2021S. Kiburi, K. Molebatsi, Vuyokazi Ntlantsana et al.
Background Previous research has reported increased risk for psychosis among individuals who use cannabis during adolescence. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the interaction between adolescent cannabis use and other factors in moderating risk for psychosis later in life. Method We searched four electronic databases in June 2020 for articles that assessed...
Background: Cannabis is known to have a broad range of effects on behavior, including experiencing a “high” and tranquility/relaxation. However, there are several adverse behavioral sequalae that can arise from cannabis use, depending on frequency of use, potency (e.g., THC content), age of onset, and cumulative exposure. This systematic review examined evidence for cannabis-related adverse...
Background: Few studies have examined how Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, impacts brain reward circuitry in humans. In this study, we examined if an acute dose of THC altered resting state functional connectivity between the striatum and prefrontal cortex among healthy young adults with limited cannabis use. Methods: Participants received THC (n=24)...
Perinatal exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) affects brain development and might increase the incidence of psychopathology later in life, which seems to be related to a dysregulation of endocannabinoid and/or dopaminergic systems. We here evaluated the transcriptional regulation of the genes encoding for the cannabinoid CB1 receptor (Cnr1) and the dopamine D2 receptor (Drd2) in perinatal...
Objective: To determine the frequency and correlates of cannabis use among the psychiatric inpatients presenting with first episode of psychosis at Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Lahore. Study Design: Correlational study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital Lahore, from Nov 2016 to Apr 2017. Methodology: A total of 88 patients between 18-40 years of age, both male and...
BACKGROUND: Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are the largest class of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and are associated with an increased risk of overdosing and adverse events such as psychosis. JWH-018 is one of the earliest SCs and still widely available in large parts of the world. Controlled studies to assess the safety and behavioural profiles of SCs are extremely scarce. AIM: The current...
The increasing legal availability of cannabis has important implications for road safety. This systematic review characterised the acute effects of Δ9-THC on driving performance and driving-related cognitive skills, with a particular focus on the duration of Δ9-THC-induced impairment. Eighty publications and 1534 outcomes were reviewed. Several measures of driving performance and...
Little is known about the the acute effects of cannabis on symptoms of OCD in humans. Therefore, this study sought to: 1) examine whether symptoms of OCD are significantly reduced after inhaling cannabis, 2) examine predictors (gender, dose, cannabis constituents, time) of these symptom changes and 3) explore potential long-term consequences of repeatedly using cannabis to self-medicate for OCD...
AbstractThis paper demonstrates that cannabis can evoke “peak-experiences”—the name psychologist Abraham Maslow gave to fleeting moments of expanded perception indicative of self-transcendence—when used alongside more traditional religious practices such as meditation, fasting, contemplative prayer, and sacramental ritual. For that reason, religious seekers around the globe have deployed...