For nearly 40 years marijuana has remained the most widely used illicit drug in the US, with more than 50% of first-time users 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. !Public Health Relevance
Vujanovic, Anka A; Wardle, Margaret C; Liu, Shijing et al. (2016) Attentional bias in adults with cannabis use disorders. J Addict Dis 35:144-53 |