Lucy Albertella

The effects of cannabinoid administration on sleep: a systematic review of human studies

This paper reviews the literature regarding the effects of cannabinoid administration on sleep in humans. A literature search using a set of cannabinoid and sleep-related terms was conducted across eight electronic databases. Human studies that involved the administration of cannabinoids and at least one quantitative sleep-related measure were included. Review papers, opinion pieces, letters or editorials, case studies (final N < 7), published abstracts, posters, and non-English papers were excluded. Thirty-nine publications were included in the review. Findings were mixed and showed various effects of cannabinoid administration on several aspects of sleep. Methodological issues in the majority of studies to date, however, preclude any definitive conclusion.

Cannabis withdrawal and sleep: A systematic review of human studies

BACKGROUND Sleep problems during withdrawal from cannabis use are a common experience. The details regarding how abstinence from cannabis impacts sleep are not well described. This article reviews the literature including a measure of cannabis withdrawal and sleep in humans. METHODS A literature search using a set of cannabinoid and sleep-related terms was conducted across 8 electronic databases. Human studies that involved the administration of cannabinoids and at least 1 quantitative sleep-related measure were included. Review articles, opinion pieces, letters or editorials, case studies (final N < 8), published abstracts, posters, and non-English articles were excluded. Thirty-six publications were included in the review. RESULTS Sleep was frequently interrupted during cannabis withdrawal, although the specific mechanisms of disruption remain unclear. CONCLUSIONS Methodological issues in the majority of studies to date preclude any definitive conclusion on the specific aspects of sleep that are affected.

The First mHealth App for Managing Cannabis Use: Gauging its Potential Helpfulness

Cannabis use disorder is both common and costly. The impact of standard services for treating cannabis use and related problems has been inhibited by supply, accessibility, and perceived stigma. Thus, private, readily accessible methods of delivering evidencebased treatment on a large scale and at low cost are urgently needed. Accordingly, we developed the first mHealth smartphone app for managing cannabis use (Assess, Plan, Track, Tips; APTT). This study examines 10 cannabis users’ (50% men, aged 17-38) reactions to APTT after participating in a 2-hour in-house testing session. Eligibility criteria required participants to be interested in evaluating, reducing, or ceasing their cannabis use. Participants were satisfied with APTT overall, but rated its ease of use slightly higher than its helpfulness. Specifically, participants gave higher ratings of its goal monitoring and tracking of cannabis use than of its ability to increase insight and provide motivation or strategies to address cannabis use. Qualitative responses suggested that the helpfulness of APTT may be increased by providing more information about harms from using cannabis and benefits of quitting, clarifying how strategies for use reduction might be applied to different situations such as withdrawal, and incorporating professional assistance. These results will assist in determining what changes need to be made to APTT in order to ensure that it is evidence-based and user preferred.

Cannabis use, schizotypy, and negative priming

The present study examined the effects of frequency of cannabis use, schizotypy, and age on cognitive control, as measured using a location-based negative priming task in a sample of 124 Australians aged 15-24 who had ever used cannabis. This study found that the schizotypy dimension of Impulsive Nonconformity had a significant effect on negative priming such that participants with higher scores on this dimension showed reduced negative priming. Also, higher levels of psychological distress were associated with greater negative priming. Finally, there was a significant age by cannabis use interaction indicating that younger, frequent users of cannabis may be more susceptible to its effects on cognitive control and perhaps at greater risk of developing a disorder on the psychosis dimension.

Mental Health Symptoms and their Relationship to Cannabis Use in Adolescents Attending Residential Treatment

Abstract The present study examined mental health symptoms and their relationship to cannabis use and treatment outcomes in a sample of adolescents who received treatment for cannabis dependence through a residential substance use program. The sample included 132 adolescents who nominated cannabis as their primary drug of concern upon admission and who completed at least 30 days of treatment. This study found that mental health symptoms of young cannabis users reduced significantly from admission to three-month follow-up. Further, pretreatment symptoms of anxiety were associated with greater pretreatment cannabis use, while symptoms of phobic anxiety were associated with less pretreatment cannabis use. Pretreatment obsessive-compulsive and somatization symptoms were associated with greater follow-up cannabis use, whereas pretreatment paranoid ideation symptoms were associated with less follow-up cannabis use. Further, follow-up somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, hostility, and phobic anxiety were associated with greater follow-up cannabis use while follow-up symptoms of interpersonal sensitivity were associated with less follow-up cannabis use. These findings highlight a variety of areas for further investigation in order to enhance current treatment for cannabis use.

Selective attention moderates the relationship between attentional capture by signals of nondrug reward and illicit drug use

BACKGROUND The current study examined whether cognitive control moderates the association between (non-drug) reward-modulated attentional capture and use of alcohol and other drugs (AOD). METHODS Participants were 66 university students who completed an assessment including questions about AOD use, a visual search task to measure value-modulated attentional capture, and a goal-directed selective attention task as a measure of cognitive control. RESULTS The association between the effect of value-modulated attentional capture and illicit drug use was moderated by level of cognitive control. Among participants with lower levels of cognitive control, value-modulated attentional capture was associated with illicit drug use. This was not the case among participants with higher levels of cognitive control, who instead showed a significant association between illicit drug use and self-reported impulsivity, as well as alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS These results provide support for models that view addictive behaviours as resulting from interaction and competition between automatic and more reflective processes. That is, the mechanisms that ultimately drive addictive behaviour may differ between people low or high in cognitive control. This has important implications for understanding the development and maintenance of substance use disorders and potentially their treatment and prevention.

The effectiveness of telephone counselling in the treatment of illicit drug and alcohol use concerns

Introduction Technology-assisted substance use interventions such as ‘high-tech’ internet-based treatments are thought to be effective; however, the relatively ‘low-tech’ use of telephone counselling does not yet have an established evidence base. This paper reviews the literature including articles with information on the use of telephone counselling for the treatment of illicit drug or alcohol use. Methods A systematic literature search using a set of telephone counselling and substance-related terms was conducted across four electronic databases. English studies prior to June 2014 that involved the use of telephone counselling with the treatment of illicit drug or alcohol use as a primary or secondary outcome were included. Review papers, opinion pieces, letters or editorials, case studies, published abstracts, and posters were excluded. In all, 94 publications were included in the review. Results and discussion The literature was supportive of telephone counselling for the treatment of alcohol use in the short term; however, literature regarding illicit drug use was particularly scarce. The generalisability of findings was limited by evident methodological issues in the included studies.

Age moderates the association between frequent cannabis use and negative schizotypy over time

The current study examined whether age and frequent cannabis use interact to influence the trajectories of positive and negative schizotypy over time. Participants were 155 cannabis users, aged 15-24 years old, assessed over a 12-month period at 6-monthly intervals. The analyses examined the influence of age, frequent use, and time on positive and negative schizotypy. The current study found that among frequent cannabis users, younger age was associated with increased negative schizotypy over time, while among occasional cannabis users, younger age was associated with decreasing negative schizotypy over time. The current findings have implications for understanding how cannabis use may influence psychosis risk differently depending on age and frequency of use, as well as bring together past mixed findings on the relationship between negative schizotypy and cannabis use.

The Cannabis Information Helpline: Assessing Interest in the Medicinal Use of Cannabis in Australia

ABSTRACT Background: The majority of Australians support a change in legislation to allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Despite strong public support, very little is known about the patterns of medicinal cannabis use among Australians. Objectives: This study aims to gain a better understanding of Australian medicinal cannabis users and their patterns of use. Methods: The nature of calls to the Cannabis Information and Helpline (N = 15701), a free national service for Australians with concerns regarding cannabis use, were investigated to determine the number of calls made by those who inquired about the medicinal use of cannabis (N = 275) and the implied reasons for use among those who identify using cannabis in this way. Results: The majority of medicinal cannabis inquirers mentioned cannabis to alleviate pain. Further, compared to other callers, medicinal cannabis inquirers were more likely to be male, unemployed, older, and have recently started using cannabis. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for future research to better understand the issues faced by Australians regarding the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes and how they may be meaningfully addressed. Particular focus should be placed toward older, unemployed males.