Abstract

(©Zehra A, Liuck, Manza P, Wiers CE, Volkow ND Wergh J, 2018. Reprinted with permission from Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology (2018) 13:438-452).

Highlights

  • Cannabis is the most commonly used substance of abuse in the United States after alcohol and tobacco (Carliner et al 2017)

  • In one study of neurocognition, chronic cannabis users demonstrated impairments in verbal memory, spatial working memory, spatial planning, and motivated decision-making compared to healthy controls (Becker et al 2014). These findings suggest that the amotivational state during withdrawal may be related to cognitive dysfunction and to reduced dopamine signaling after chronic cannabis use

  • Cannabis users had higher negative emotionality and lower positive emotionality personality scores than controls, and negative emotionality scores were inversely correlated with methylphenidate-induced dopamine increases in the ventral striatum (Volkow et al 2014c; Wiers et al 2016b). These findings offer an explanation for decreased dopamine reactivity in the striatum during abstinence that may contribute to negative emotionality, which is consistent with lower reward sensitivity in cannabis users during the withdrawal phase of addiction (Volkow et al 2014c)

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Summary

Introduction

Cannabis is the most commonly used substance of abuse in the United States after alcohol and tobacco (Carliner et al 2017). Koob and Volkow (2016) define drug addiction as a Bchronically relapsing disorder^ marked by compulsive drug seeking and intake, loss of control in limiting intake, and the emergence of a negative emotional state when access to a drug is prevented This model proposes three stages of addiction with disturbances in three major neurocircuits: the binge/ intoxication stage driven by changes in the basal ganglia; the. A hallmark of the binge/intoxication stage is an impairment in incentive salience, whereby drug-associated cues and contexts associated with the initial exposure to a drug are attributed exaggeratedly high rewarding properties and become conditioned to elicit dopamine (DA) release This incentive salience dysfunction appears to drive DA signaling to maintain motivation to take the drug upon exposure to conditioned-cues and even when its pharmacological effects lessen, secondary to the development of tolerance (Koob and Volkow 2016). The preoccupation/anticipation stage is marked by dysregulation of signaling between the PFC and areas of the brain that

B STAGE Bingeintoxication
Findings
Discussion
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