Examine the Feasibility of a Standardized Field Test for Marijuana Impairment: Laboratory Evaluations
| Status: | Recruiting |
|---|---|
| Conditions: | Psychiatric |
| Therapuetic Areas: | Psychiatry / Psychology |
| Healthy: | No |
| Age Range: | 20 - 40 |
| Updated: | 1/27/2019 |
| Start Date: | December 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | December 2019 |
| Contact: | Catherine Boyle, B.S. |
| Email: | catherine.boyle@hhchealth.org |
| Phone: | 860-545-7548 |
Marijuana is one of the most widely used substances. This study will characterize the
persistence of cannabis' (CNB's) acute effects on cognitive test performance and simulated
driving over a several hour time period. The data obtained from simulated driving, cognitive
tests, and biological assays of THC will be used in analyses aimed at identifying what tests
or combination of tests predict both recent use and driving impairment risk.
Eligible participants will undergo a full day screening visit, if still eligible they will
come to Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut to take part in the full study.
Participation requires overnight stays between each of the five study visits. On each of the
study days participants are dosed with either a low dose of THC marijuana, a high dose of THC
marijuana or placebo marijuana, (the low and high doses are repeated once each, order in
which the study drug is given is double blind and chosen at random.)
persistence of cannabis' (CNB's) acute effects on cognitive test performance and simulated
driving over a several hour time period. The data obtained from simulated driving, cognitive
tests, and biological assays of THC will be used in analyses aimed at identifying what tests
or combination of tests predict both recent use and driving impairment risk.
Eligible participants will undergo a full day screening visit, if still eligible they will
come to Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut to take part in the full study.
Participation requires overnight stays between each of the five study visits. On each of the
study days participants are dosed with either a low dose of THC marijuana, a high dose of THC
marijuana or placebo marijuana, (the low and high doses are repeated once each, order in
which the study drug is given is double blind and chosen at random.)
This responds to NHTSA's request with a proposal to increase our understanding of smoked
cannabis' (CNB's) acute effects on cognition and simulated driving performance, the
persistence of these deficits over the hours after use, and the influence of prior experience
with CNB on these effects. The project also will link an extensive literature on CNB's
effects on laboratory cognitive tests to simulated driving performance for the first time,
providing a crucial validation of CNB's neurofunctional effects identifying maximally
relevant candidate measures for field sobriety tests. To this goal, the proposed study was
based upon a careful and thorough review of the scientific literature describing CNB effects
on cognitive test performance and driving, as well as current state-of-knowledge on the
sensitivity of biological assays for identifying recent CNB use. The study will carefully
characterize the persistence of CNB's acute effects on cognitive test performance and driving
over a several-hour time span. This will allow us to identify the point at which any effects
of CNB intoxication on cognitive tests and driving performance cannot be distinguished from
normal, i.e., the first step towards establishing standards for legal and social policy. The
data obtained from simulated driving, cognitive tests, and biological assays of THC will be
used in analyses aimed at identifying what tests or combination of tests predict both recent
use and driving impairment risk.
Participants
cannabis' (CNB's) acute effects on cognition and simulated driving performance, the
persistence of these deficits over the hours after use, and the influence of prior experience
with CNB on these effects. The project also will link an extensive literature on CNB's
effects on laboratory cognitive tests to simulated driving performance for the first time,
providing a crucial validation of CNB's neurofunctional effects identifying maximally
relevant candidate measures for field sobriety tests. To this goal, the proposed study was
based upon a careful and thorough review of the scientific literature describing CNB effects
on cognitive test performance and driving, as well as current state-of-knowledge on the
sensitivity of biological assays for identifying recent CNB use. The study will carefully
characterize the persistence of CNB's acute effects on cognitive test performance and driving
over a several-hour time span. This will allow us to identify the point at which any effects
of CNB intoxication on cognitive tests and driving performance cannot be distinguished from
normal, i.e., the first step towards establishing standards for legal and social policy. The
data obtained from simulated driving, cognitive tests, and biological assays of THC will be
used in analyses aimed at identifying what tests or combination of tests predict both recent
use and driving impairment risk.
Participants
Inclusion Criteria:
- Must have a current driver's license
- Have used marijuana before
- Right handed
Exclusion Criteria:
- Females who are pregnant or breast feeding
- Any serious medical, or neurological disorder
- Any psychiatric disorder
- No major head traumas
We found this trial at
1
site
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
Principal Investigator: Godfrey Pearlson, MD
Phone: 850-545-7563
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