Abstract 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 driving-related cognitive skills (e.g. lateral control, tracking, divided attention) demonstrated impairment in meta-analyses of “peak” Δ9-THC effects (p’s<0.05). Multiple meta-regression analyses further found that regular cannabis users experianced less impairment than ‘other’ (mostly occasional) cannabis users (p = 0.003) and that the magnitude of oral (n = 243 effect estimates [EE]) and inhaled (n = 481 EEs) Δ9-THC-induced...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Background: Cannabis legalization is expanding, but there are no established methods for detecting cannabis impairment. Aim: Characterize the acute impairing effects of oral and vaporized cannabis using various performance tests. Methods: Participants (N = 20, 10 men/10 women) who were infrequent cannabis users ingested cannabis brownies (0, 10, and 25 mg Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC) and inhaled vaporized cannabis (0, 5, and 20 mg THC) in six double-blind outpatient sessions. Cognitive/psychomotor impairment was assessed with a battery of computerized tasks sensitive to cannabis effects, a novel test (the DRiving Under the Influence of Drugs, DRUID®), and field sobriety tests. Blood THC...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Objective To evaluate the effects of oral pharmacological cannabidiol (CBD) on seizures, side effects, quality of life, behavior, mood, and sleep in children with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) during a phase II, prospective, open-label clinical study. Methods During a phase II expanded access program (EAP) study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of using cannabidiol (CBD) for the long-term treatment of children with drug-resistant epilepsy, secondary outcome measures were also performed, including quality of life (QOLCE), behavior (aberrant behavior checklist ABC), and sleep (children’s sleep habit questionnaire, CSHQ). Participants between the ages of 2 and 16 years...

Abstract Cannabis use can be traced back to several centuries before the Common Era, when it was used for industrial, medicinal and recreational purposes. More recently, over 100 different cannabinoid compounds have been identified, one of which is cannabidiol (CBD), a compound widely used for anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic treatment. The literature surrounding the cognitive effects of CBD is limited, with most studies focusing on the effects of other cannabinoids on cognition. To expand this literature, this study investigated whether CBD causes significant differences to working memory (WM) functioning, as measured by the N-back task. It was hypothesised that CBD does not cause statistically significant...

Abstract Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that disturbs feelings and behavior. The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three categories: positive, negative, and cognitive. Cognitive symptoms are characterized by memory loss or attentional deficits, and are especially difficult to treat. Thus, there is intense research into the development of new treatments for schizophrenia-related responses. One of the possible strategies is connected with cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabinoid compound. This research focuses on the role of CBD in different stages of memory (acquisition, consolidation, retrieval) connected with fear conditioning in the passive avoidance (PA) learning task in mice, as well as in the memory impairment typical...

Abstract Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder that appears after chronic use of drugs that block dopaminergic receptors such as antipsychotics. Besides the motor symptoms, patients with TD also present cognitive deficits. Neuroinflammatory mechanisms could be involved in the development of these symptoms. A previous study showed that cannabidiol (CBD), the major non-psychotomimetic compound of Cannabis sativa plant, prevents orofacial dyskinesia induced by typical antipsychotics by activating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors gamma (PPARγ). Here, we investigated if CBD would also reverse haloperidol-induced orofacial dyskinesia and associated cognitive deficits. We also verified if these effects depend on PPARγ receptor activation. Daily treatment with haloperidol (3 mg/kg, 21 days) increased the frequency of vacuous chewing movements (VCM) and decreased the discrimination index in the novel object...

Abstract Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the umbrella term used to describe the physical and mental disabilities induced by alcohol exposure during development. Early alcohol exposure induces cognitive impairments resulting from damage to the central nervous system (CNS). The neuroinflammatory response accompanied by neurodegenerative mechanisms contribute to those detrimental alterations. Cannabidiol (CBD) has recently emerged as an anti-inflammatory drug that might be useful to treat several neuropsychiatric disorders. In our study, we assessed the effects of CBD on long-lasting cognitive deficits induced by early alcohol exposure. Furthermore, we analysed long-term pro-inflammatory and apoptotic markers within the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. To model alcohol...

Abstract Statewide legislation has increased public access to high-potency cannabis flower and concentrates, yet federal restrictions limit researchers’ access to relatively low-potency whole-plant cannabis. The goal of this study was to examine the acute effects of high-potency cannabis on cognition using a novel methodology. We further sought to compare cognitive effects of high-potency cannabis flower with and without cannabidiol (CBD), as well as cannabis concentrates to cannabis flower. 80 cannabis users were randomly assigned to stay sober or use their funds to purchase one of three high-potency cannabis products: (1) high-potency flower (≥ 20% THC) without CBD, (2) high-potency flower with CBD, (3) high-potency concentrates...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract: There is a dire need for due innovative therapeutic modalities to improve outcomes of AD patients. In this study, we tested whether cannabidiol (CBD) improves outcomes in a translational model of familial AD and to investigate if CBD regulates interleukin (IL)-33 and triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2), which are associated with improved cognitive function. CBD was administered to 5xFAD mice, which recapitulate early onset, familial AD. Behavioral tests and immunoassays were used to evaluate cognitive and motor outcomes. Our findings suggest that CBD treatment enhanced IL-33 and TREM2 expression, ameliorated the symptoms...

Please use this link to access this publication. Abstract Purpose Therapeutic use of cannabidiol (CBD) in intractable epilepsies has increased considerably over the last ten years. As more evidence for the potentially beneficial effects of CBD on different epilepsy types is emerging, it is important to monitor potential cognitive and behavioral side effects. So far, studies including standardized neuropsychological data in the context of treatment with CBD in epilepsy patients are sparse. The present open-label study examines cognitive and behavioral effects of CBD in children and adults with treatment resistant epilepsy. Method Thirty-nine patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy completed the study protocol, i.e. they were...