N-Acetylcysteine for Youth Cannabis Use Disorder

Summary

This is a 12-week randomized, placebo-controlled trial of N-acetylcysteine for cannabis use disorder (CUD) in youth (N=192). Participants will be randomized to double-blind NAC or PBO, yielding two equally-allocated treatment groups. All participants will receive brief weekly cannabis cessation counseling and medication management. The primary efficacy outcome will be the proportion of negative urine cannabinoid tests during the 12-week active treatment, compared between groups.

Timeline

Start

2017-08-03

Primary completion

2024-01-31

Completion

2024-02-26

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

paper The N-acetylcysteine and placebo groups did not differ in proportion of negative urine cannabinoid tests (RR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.53, 1.64; p = 0.80) PMID 39910268 ↗

Publications

• Gray KM, Tomko RL, Baker NL, McClure EA, McRae-Clark AL, Squeglia LM. N-acetylcysteine for youth cannabis use disorder: randomized controlled trial main findings. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2025 Apr;50(5):731-738. doi: 10.1038/s41386-025-02061-y. Epub 2025 Feb 5.

Drugs

Indications