TY - JOUR
T1 - A Comparison of Acute Neurocognitive and Psychotomimetic Effects of a Synthetic Cannabinoid and Natural Cannabis at Psychotropic Dose Equivalence
AU - Theunissen, Eef Lien
AU - Kuypers, Kim Paula Colette
AU - Mason, Natasha Leigh
AU - Ramaekers, Johannes Gerardus
N1 - Copyright © 2022 Theunissen, Kuypers, Mason and Ramaekers.
PY - 2022/5/19
Y1 - 2022/5/19
N2 - Due to differences in potency, efficacy, and affinity for CB1 receptors, similarities and differences in psychoactive effect profiles of natural cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) cannot reliably be derived from equipotent dose comparisons. Instead, the current study proposes to compare the intrinsic psychoactive effects of natural cannabis (THC) and an SC, JWH-018, at psychotropic dose equivalence. Participants from two placebo-controlled studies were matched for their levels of subjective high to compare neurocognitive and psychotomimetic effects of THC and JWH-018. At equal subjective intoxication levels, both drugs impaired psychomotor, divided attention, and impulse control, with no significant difference between the two drugs. Both drugs also caused significant psychotomimetic effects, but dissociative effects were considerably more pronounced for JWH-018 than THC. We conclude that psychotropic dose equivalence provides a uniform approach for comparing the neurocognitive and psychotomimetic profiles of CB1 agonists, which can also be applied to other drug classes.
AB - Due to differences in potency, efficacy, and affinity for CB1 receptors, similarities and differences in psychoactive effect profiles of natural cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) cannot reliably be derived from equipotent dose comparisons. Instead, the current study proposes to compare the intrinsic psychoactive effects of natural cannabis (THC) and an SC, JWH-018, at psychotropic dose equivalence. Participants from two placebo-controlled studies were matched for their levels of subjective high to compare neurocognitive and psychotomimetic effects of THC and JWH-018. At equal subjective intoxication levels, both drugs impaired psychomotor, divided attention, and impulse control, with no significant difference between the two drugs. Both drugs also caused significant psychotomimetic effects, but dissociative effects were considerably more pronounced for JWH-018 than THC. We conclude that psychotropic dose equivalence provides a uniform approach for comparing the neurocognitive and psychotomimetic profiles of CB1 agonists, which can also be applied to other drug classes.
KW - ALCOHOL
KW - BEHAVIORAL MEASURES
KW - COCAINE
KW - DELTA-9-TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL
KW - HIGH-POTENCY CANNABIS
KW - IMPULSIVITY
KW - JWH-018
KW - JWH-018
KW - PERFORMANCE
KW - PSYCHOSIS
KW - SMOKED MARIJUANA
KW - THC
KW - cannabinoids
KW - neurocognitive effects
KW - psychotomimetic effects
KW - psychotropic dose equivalence
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.891811
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.891811
M3 - Article
C2 - 35664482
SN - 1664-0640
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry
JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry
M1 - 891811
ER -