Buspirone, Stress, and Attentional Bias to Marijuana Cues

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2016-03-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

This project has two primary goals. The first goal is to further scientific understanding about marijuana abuse by examining two recognized factors in marijuana use and relapse: (1) stress/anxiety and (2) atypical reactivity to marijuana-related stimuli (e.g., attentional bias). The second goal is to attenuate the influence of stress/anxiety and attentional bias to marijuana stimuli via administration of buspirone.

Buspirone is uniquely suited to this project because it has effects on neurotransmitter systems known to modulate both stress/anxiety and attentional bias.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Collaborator: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Treatments: Buspirone

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Marijuana substance use disorder based on a score of ≥ 13 on the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test - Revised (CUDIT-R)

• a score of ≥ 4 on the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST)

• meeting criteria for a marijuana substance use disorder based on the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current DSM-IV Axis I disorder other than marijuana use disorder

• serious medical illness requiring ongoing medical treatment, which could affect the central nervous system, or any other medical contraindication (e.g., renal, cardiovascular, pulmonary, blood) as determined by medical screening

• a positive pregnancy test or breast feeding (females)

• concomitant use of prescription medications that could affect the central nervous system

• active suicidal ideation or Beck Depression Inventory II score greater than 19

• positive urine drug screen for drugs other than marijuana or positive breath alcohol screen

• Shipley-2 test of cognitive aptitude score outside 2 SD units of the published composite score average

• smoking > 10 nicotine cigarettes per day / Fagerstrom Score > 4

• taking meds known to have significant drug interactions with buspirone.