Interest in psychedelics is booming, heralding a possible psychedelic renaissance in the United States. But policy makers interested in expanding access to psychedelic substances would be wise to heed lessons gleaned from the past 25 years of marijuana law reforms. That experience suggests that it may prove impossible to repeal or narrow the federal ban on psychedelics in the near term, but...
Currently, the assessment of the neurobehavioral consequences of repeated cannabis use is restricted to studies in which brain function of chronic cannabis users is compared to that of non-cannabis using controls. The assumption of such studies is that changes in brain function of chronic users are caused by repeated and prolonged exposure to acute cannabis intoxication. However, differences in...
Background: Emergency department (ED) visits involving psychosis and schizophrenia have increased at a rate exceeding population growth in the United States over the past decade. Research shows a strong dose-response relationship between chronic use of high-potency cannabis and odds of developing symptoms of psychosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of cannabis legalization on...
Adolescent marijuana (MJ) use has been associated with alterations in brain structure and function as well as behavior. Examination of neurochemical correlates such as GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and Glx (glutamate + glutamine) in MJ users remains limited. Impulsivity, identified as a risk factor and consequence of MJ use, has been associated with GABA and Glx levels in healthy and clinical...
Introduction:Cannabis sativa L. (C. sativa) is used since ancient times to produce fabrics, baskets, and cords. Later, different ethnic groups used to burn the leaves and flowers of psychotropic cultivars with high Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (D9-THC) levels, during the religious or propitiatory rites to alter the state of consciousness. To date, it is not known whether also nonpsychotropic...
Introduction: Given the increasing availability and use of cannabis among individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the addition of PTSD as an eligible diagnosis in several U.S. medical cannabis programs, the efficacy of dispensary-obtained cannabis needs to be thoroughly examined. Materials and Methods: This prospective study assessed PTSD symptoms and functioning every 3...
Cannabis use peaks in adolescence, and adolescents may be more vulnerable to the neural effects of cannabis and cannabis-related harms due to ongoing brain development during this period. In light of ongoing cannabis policy changes, increased availability, reduced perceptions of harm, heightened interest in medicinal applications of cannabis, and drastic increases in cannabis potency, it is...
BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies show a dose-response association between cannabis use and the risk of psychosis. This review aimed to determine whether there are identifiable risk-thresholds between the frequency of cannabis use and psychosis development. METHODS: Systematic search of Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science for relevant studies (1 January 2010-26 April 2021)....
Introduction Recently, the literature has shown that Cannabis Use (CU) was a risk factor for Violent Behavior (VB) in patients with psychosis, and those in the early phase of psychosis (EPP). These findings are relevant because of the high prevalence of CU in this EPP, and the potential for prevention during this phase of illness. However, there is still a lack of clear explanations, supported...
Abstract Objectives The liberalisation of cannabis laws, the increasing availability and potency of cannabis has renewed concern about the risk of psychosis with cannabis. Methods The objective of the WFSBP task force was to review the literature about this relationship. Results Converging lines of evidence suggest that exposure to cannabis increases the risk for psychoses ranging from...
Jackson was bored with his massage therapy practice and was looking for something more interesting to do. Cannabis legalization had reawakened his interest in the use of natural, psychoactive substances as healing and spiritual agents. A once-a-month user of cannabis, he was enthusiastic about Johns Hopkins University’s research on the potential mental health benefits of psilocybin, the...
Gender differences in psychiatric disorders and drug use are well known. Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug among young people. In recent years, its use has been related to the development of psychiatric pathologies; however, few studies have incorporated the gender perspective as of yet. The present work analyses the literature to determine the existence of gender differences in the...
JAMA PsychiatryMarch 1, 2022Thomas D Marcotte, Anya Umlauf, David J Grelotti et al.
Expanding cannabis medicalization and legalization increases the urgency to understand the factors associated with acute driving impairment. To determine, in a large sample of regular cannabis users, the magnitude and time course of driving impairment produced by smoked cannabis of different Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, the effects of use history, and concordance between perceived...
Neurology and therapyMarch 1, 2022Dan Bosnyak, Alison C McDonald, Israel Gasperin Haaz et al.
Current methods to detect recent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) use cannot objectively quantify its psychoactive effects (PE). The Cognalyzer®, an electroencephalography (EEG)-based method, detects and quantifies the strength of THC-induced PE on a scale from 0 to 100%. This study assesses the relationship between the magnitude of Cognalyzer® PE predictions and reported subjective drug...
The rising popularity of medical marijuana and its potential therapeutic uses has resulted in passionate discussions that have mainly focused on its possible benefits and applications. Although the concept itself seems promising, the multitude of presented information has noticeable ramifications-terminological chaos being one. This work aimed to synthesize and critically analyze scientific...
Background. Numerous neuropsychological studies have shown that cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood led to deficits in sustained and selective attention. However, few studies have examined functional connectivity in attentional networks among young cannabis users, nor have characterized relationships with cannabis use patterns following abstinence. Methods. Differences in...
Objective. Some adverse cannabis effects are greater in individuals on the psychosis spectrum compared to healthy individuals. We have previously reported that smoked cannabis acutely worsened psychotic-like states and reduced cognitive performance selectively in cannabis users at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis. The objective of the present study was to further investigate the acute...
Background: Preclinical and human studies suggest that adolescent cannabis use may be associated with worse cognitive outcomes than adult cannabis use. We investigated the associations between chronic cannabis use and cognitive function in adolescent and adult cannabis users and controls. We hypothesised user-status would be negatively associated with cognitive function and this relationship...
Resting state fMRI has been employed to identify alterations in functional connectivity within or between brain regions following acute and chronic exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component in cannabis. Most studies focused a priori on a limited number of local brain areas or circuits, without considering the impact of cannabis on whole-brain network organization....
The January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP) focuses on the interactions between alcohol use, cannabis use, substance use disorders (SUDs), and other psychiatric illnesses. One of the biggest questions for clinicians treating patients with first‐episode psychosis when cannabis has been involved is the chicken‐and‐egg question — was the psychosis brought on by cannabis use or...