Standard units for cannabis dose: Why is it important to standardize cannabis dose for drug policy and how can we enhance its place on the public health agenda?

López‐Pelayo, Hugo; Matrai, Silvia; Balcells‐Oliveró, Mercè; Campeny, Eugènia; Braddick, Fleur; Bossong, Matthijs G.; Cruz, Olga Souza; Deluca, Paolo; Dom, Geert; Feingold, Daniel L.; Freeman, Tom P.; Guzmán, Pablo; Hindocha, Chandni; Kelly, Brian C.; Liebregts, Nienke; Lorenzetti, Valentina; Manthey, Jakob; Matias, João; Oliveras, Clara; Pons, Mercedes Boncompte; Rehm, Jürgen; Rosenkranz, Moritz; Swithenbank, Zoe; Deurse, Luc van; Vicente, Julián; Vuolo, Mike; Wojnar, Marcin; Gual, Antoni

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103350

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 23 publications

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“…Third, future studies should report cannabis use in a systematic and standardized fashion (Lorenzetti et al, 2016a , c ; Solowij et al, 2016b ; Lopez-Pelayo et al, 2021 ). They include standard THC units (Freeman and Lorenzetti, 2019 , 2021 ) which have received support from researchers and health organizations internationally (Filbey, 2020 ; Hammond and Goodman, 2020 ; Volkow and Weiss, 2020 ; NIDA, 2021 ), as well as the iCannToolkit (Lorenzetti et al, 2021 , 2022a , b ), also endorsed by researchers internationally (Kuhns and Kroon, 2021 ; Weiss and Volkow, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring white matter microstructure in 1,457 cannabis users and 1,441 controls: A systematic review of diffusion-weighted MRI studies

Robinson

Gleeson²,

Arun³

et al. 2023

Front. Neuroimaging

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IntroductionCannabis is the most widely used regulated substance by youth and adults. Cannabis use has been associated with psychosocial problems, which have been partly ascribed to neurobiological changes. Emerging evidence to date from diffusion-MRI studies shows that cannabis users compared to controls show poorer integrity of white matter fibre tracts, which structurally connect distinct brain regions to facilitate neural communication. However, the most recent evidence from diffusion-MRI studies thus far has yet to be integrated. Therefore, it is unclear if white matter differences in cannabis users are evident consistently in selected locations, in specific diffusion-MRI metrics, and whether these differences in metrics are associated with cannabis exposure levels.MethodsWe systematically reviewed the results from diffusion-MRI imaging studies that compared white matter differences between cannabis users and controls. We also examined the associations between cannabis exposure and other behavioral variables due to changes in white matter. Our review was pre-registered in PROSPERO (ID: 258250; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/).ResultsWe identified 30 diffusion-MRI studies including 1,457 cannabis users and 1,441 controls aged 16-to-45 years. All but 6 studies reported group differences in white matter integrity. The most consistent differences between cannabis users and controls were lower fractional anisotropy within the arcuate/superior longitudinal fasciculus (7 studies), and lower fractional anisotropy of the corpus callosum (6 studies) as well as higher mean diffusivity and trace (4 studies). Differences in fractional anisotropy were associated with cannabis use onset (4 studies), especially in the corpus callosum (3 studies).DiscussionThe mechanisms underscoring white matter differences are unclear, and they may include effects of cannabis use onset during youth, neurotoxic effects or neuro adaptations from regular exposure to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which exerts its effects by binding to brain receptors, or a neurobiological vulnerability predating the onset of cannabis use. Future multimodal neuroimaging studies, including recently developed advanced diffusion-MRI metrics, can be used to track cannabis users over time and to define with precision when and which region of the brain the white matter changes commence in youth cannabis users, and whether cessation of use recovers white matter differences.Systematic review registrationwww.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier: 258250.

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