During the past several years there has been a steady increase in the abuse of marijuana among young adults. The major psychoactive component of marijuana that causes its abuse is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). As a result marijuana addiction has been the subject of a number of basic and clinical research programs directed toward understanding the mechanism of the addictive processes and the health hazard associated with its abuse. The common form of marijuana abuse is by smoking. Due to the non-availability of placebo or control marijuana cigarettes with natural marijuana flavors, attempts will be made to develop methodologies to produce marijuana with no or lowest level of THC, and produce placebo marijuana cigarettes with natural flavors for research during the SBIR Phase I contract. In addition, an attempt will also be made to evaluate the feasibility of producing marijuana cigarettes of different strengths with natural flavors.
