Effectiveness Study of Dronabinol and BRENDA for the Treatment of Cannabis Withdrawal

Summary

This treatment study is targeted specifically for those who want to stop using marijuana. We want to find out if patients who are dependent on marijuana and want to stop using are helped by a combination of the drug dronabinol and six sessions of individual therapy (BRENDA). Dronabinol is a pill form of the active ingredient in marijuana (THC). Currently, dronabinol is approved for the treatment of nausea in people receiving cancer chemotherapy and as an appetite stimulant in people with AIDS. In some studies, dronabinol reduced the amount of psychological and physical discomfort experienced when people stopped using marijuana. One purpose of our study is to see if people who are on dronabinol have fewer problems with psychological and physical discomfort than those who are on a placebo. In addition to treatment, this research trial will also be measuring the reactions of subjects to drug-related cues, and also to computer-presented tasks unrelated to drug use. We may examine whether the response to these cues/tasks either predicts treatment outcome, or is affected by your treatment. This information may also help us to understand the ways in which chronic drug use causes changes in our subjects' mental functioning and how those changes respond to treatment. In addition to participation in the treatment research trial, some subjects may be asked to undergo a brain scan in an MRI. The purpose of the brain scan research project is to measure brain reactions with a non-invasive, non-radioactive imaging technique known as fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in marijuana subjects before and after treatment with the medication dronabinol or with an inactive substance (placebo).

Timeline

Start

2006-08

Primary completion

2009-06

Completion

2009-07

Publications

• Background Haney M, Hart CL, Vosburg SK, Nasser J, Bennett A, Zubaran C, Foltin RW. Marijuana withdrawal in humans: effects of oral THC or divalproex. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2004 Jan;29(1):158-70. doi: 10.1038/sj.npp.1300310.
• Goldman M, Szucs-Reed RP, Jagannathan K, Ehrman RN, Wang Z, Li Y, Suh JJ, Kampman K, O'Brien CP, Childress AR, Franklin TR. Reward-related brain response and craving correlates of marijuana cue exposure: a preliminary study in treatment-seeking marijuana-dependent subjects. J Addict Med. 2013 Jan-Feb;7(1):8-16. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0b013e318273863a.

Drugs

Indications