Effects of Cannabis Administration Routes on Human Performance and Pharmacokinetics

Summary

Background: \- Marijuana (cannabis) is an illegal drug. Researchers want to study people s reactions, attention, and behavior after they take marijuana in different ways. They want to learn better ways to detect drugs in a person s body They also want to know how long marijuana can be found in blood, urine, saliva, and breath. Objectives: \- To learn how people respond to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, a marijuana component) and how their bodies handle it after it is given in different ways. Eligibility: \- Adults age 18 50 who use marijuana. Design: * Participants are screened under another NIDA protocol. * This study involves up to 6 visits to NIDA. * At the first visit, participants will practice the tasks and tests they will do at their dosing sessions. They will learn how to give breath and saliva samples. * Dosing sessions 1 4 will last 3 5 days each. All participants will be admitted to a research clinic the night before these sessions. Some participants can stay at the clinic and some must go home between sessions. * At each session, participants will eat a brownie with placebo or marijuana. Then they will smoke a placebo or marijuana cigarette. Some will inhale placebo or marijuana after it is vaporized. * Throughout the sessions: * Participants will give urine, saliva, and breath samples. Their blood will be taken with a tube in a vein and finger pricks. Their vital signs will be checked. * Participants will answer questionnaires and take thinking tests. They will also take tests that assess eye movement, balance, and time estimation. * Participants may have a 5th dosing session. They will eat a marijuana brownie and have the above tests and samples.

Timeline

Start

2014-06-14

Primary completion

2016-04-27

Completion

2016-04-27

Publications

• Background Vega WA, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Andrade L, Bijl R, Borges G, Caraveo-Anduaga JJ, DeWit DJ, Heeringa SG, Kessler RC, Kolody B, Merikangas KR, Molnar BE, Walters EE, Warner LA, Wittchen HU. Prevalence and age of onset for drug use in seven international sites: results from the international consortium of psychiatric epidemiology. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2002 Dec 1;68(3):285-97. doi: 10.1016/s0376-8716(02)00224-7.
• Background Huestis MA. Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of the plant cannabinoids, delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and cannabinol. Handb Exp Pharmacol. 2005;(168):657-90. doi: 10.1007/3-540-26573-2_23.
• Background Grotenhermen F. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cannabinoids. Clin Pharmacokinet. 2003;42(4):327-60. doi: 10.2165/00003088-200342040-00003.
• Newmeyer MN, Swortwood MJ, Andersson M, Abulseoud OA, Scheidweiler KB, Huestis MA. Cannabis Edibles: Blood and Oral Fluid Cannabinoid Pharmacokinetics and Evaluation of Oral Fluid Screening Devices for Predicting Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in Blood and Oral Fluid following Cannabis Brownie Administration. Clin Chem. 2017 Mar;63(3):647-662. doi: 10.1373/clinchem.2016.265371. Epub 2017 Feb 10.
• Newmeyer MN, Swortwood MJ, Taylor ME, Abulseoud OA, Woodward TH, Huestis MA. Evaluation of divided attention psychophysical task performance and effects on pupil sizes following smoked, vaporized and oral cannabis administration. J Appl Toxicol. 2017 Aug;37(8):922-932. doi: 10.1002/jat.3440. Epub 2017 Jan 31.
• Newmeyer MN, Swortwood MJ, Barnes AJ, Abulseoud OA, Scheidweiler KB, Huestis MA. Free and Glucuronide Whole Blood Cannabinoids' Pharmacokinetics after Controlled Smoked, Vaporized, and Oral Cannabis Administration in Frequent and Occasional Cannabis Users: Identification of Recent Cannabis Intake. Clin Chem. 2016 Dec;62(12):1579-1592. doi: 10.1373/clinchem.2016.263475. Epub 2016 Oct 10.

Drugs

Indications