Stress and Marijuana Cue-elicited Craving and Reactivity

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cannabis Use Disorders

Treatments: Other: No stress + cue exposure; Other: Stress + cue exposure

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00613405

HR#17195

R21DA022424 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

R21DA022424-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to explore the interaction between stress and marijuana cues, in hopes that it may lead to the development of new treatments for marijuana dependence.

Full description

Although use of marijuana is widespread, little research has focused on the treatment of marijuana use disorders or on predictors of relapse. Although several factors contributing to relapse have been explored in other dependencies (i.e., alcohol, cocaine), little research has focused on drug cue-related or stress-induced relapse in marijuana-dependent individuals. Cue reactivity is a construct measured in a laboratory procedure where an individual's subjective, behavioral, and physiological responses are assessed following exposure to drug-related environmental cues or stressors. Investigating the effects of drug-related environmental cues and stress in marijuana-dependent individuals will be useful in guiding treatment development.

Enrollment: 87 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Meets Diagnostic and Statistical Methods (DSM)-IV Criteria for Marijuana Dependence
• Between the ages of 18 and 65
• Must abstain from marijuana use the day of testing and other drug use three days prior to testing

Exclusion criteria

• Must not be taking any psychoactive medication, or medication that alters the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) Axis functioning
• Must not be taking any medications that alter heart rate or skin conductance monitoring
• Cannot meet criteria for current major Axis I disorder (may alter response to stress)
• Cannot be morbidly obese (Body Mass Index >39)
• Cannot meet current abuse or dependence criteria of other substances in past 90 days
• Must not have a medical condition that impacts HPA functioning (Hypertension, chronic pain, Addison's disease)

Trial design

87 participants in 2 patient groups

Stress + cue exposure

Experimental group

Description:

Individuals were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) as well as neutral cues and marijana cues.

Treatment:

Other: Stress + cue exposure

No stress + cue exposure

Experimental group

Description:

Individuals were not exposed to a stress test, but were exposed to neutral cues and marijuana cues.

Treatment:

Other: No stress + cue exposure