Trial reportThe American journal on addictions
Intermittent marijuana use is associated with improved retention in naltrexone treatment for opiate-dependence.
Trial report in The American journal on addictions. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cannabinoid exposure across substance use disorders: Short-term symptom benefits without sustained therapeutic gains in a tier-weighted systematic review.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026Pooled it
- Oral naltrexone maintenance treatment for opioid dependence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2011Pooled it
- The effects of dronabinol during detoxification and the initiation of treatment with extended release naltrexone.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2015Trial
- No evidence for reduction of opioid-withdrawal symptoms by cannabis smoking during a methadone dose taper.The American journal on addictions · 2015Trial
- Association of cannabis use with opioid outcomes among opioid-dependent youth.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2013Trial
- Self-reported cannabis use to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms and reductions in opioid use among people who use unregulated opioids: a cross-sectional analysis.Journal of cannabis research · 2026Article
- The Role of Medicinal Cannabis as an Emerging Therapy for Opioid Use Disorder.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- The impact of marijuana use on cocaine use outcomes among patients in methadone maintenance treatment across five trials of contingency management.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2022Article
- Patient characteristics associated with initiation of XR-naltrexone for opioid use disorder in clinical trials.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- Cannabis Significantly Reduces the Use of Prescription Opioids and Improves Quality of Life in Authorized Patients: Results of a Large Prospective Study.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2021Article
- The emergence of innovative cannabis distribution projects in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, Canada.The International journal on drug policy · 2020Article
- Medical cannabis for chronic pain: can it make a difference in pain management?Journal of anesthesia · 2020Review
- Individual differences in human opioid abuse potential as observed in a human laboratory study.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2019Article
- Trends in Opioid Misuse among Marijuana Users and Non-Users in the U.S. from 2007-2017.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- The association between health conditions and cannabis use in patients with opioid use disorder receiving methadone maintenance treatment.BJPsych open · 2019Article
- Medical and non-medical cannabis use and risk of prescription opioid use disorder: Findings from propensity score matching.Drug and alcohol review · 2019Article
- Medical cannabis patterns of use and substitution for opioids & other pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and illicit substances; results from a cross-sectional survey of authorized patients.Harm reduction journal · 2019Article
- High-intensity cannabis use is associated with retention in opioid agonist treatment: a longitudinal analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2018Article
- Commentary on Socias et al. (2018): Clinical research perspectives on cannabis use in opioid agonist treatment.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2018Article
- Patterns of medicinal cannabis use, strain analysis, and substitution effect among patients with migraine, headache, arthritis, and chronic pain in a medicinal cannabis cohort.The journal of headache and pain · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Naltrexone is a theoretically promising alternative to agonist substitution treatment for opioid dependence, but its effectiveness has been severely limited by poor adherence. This study examined, in an independent sample, a previously observed association between moderate cannabis use and improved retention in naltrexone treatment. Opioid dependent patients (N = 63), admitted for inpatient detoxification and induction onto oral naltrexone, and randomized into a six-month trial of intensive behavioral therapy (Behavioral Naltrexone Therapy) versus a control behavioral therapy (Compliance Enhancement), were classified into three levels of cannabis use during treatment based on biweekly urine toxicology: abstinent (0% cannabis positive urine samples); intermittent use (1% to 79% cannabis positive samples); and consistent use (80% or greater cannabis positive samples). Intermittent cannabis users showed superior retention in naltrexone treatment (median days retained = 133; mean = 112.8, SE = 17.5), compared to abstinent (median = 35; mean = 47.3, SE = 9.2) or consistent users (median = 35; mean = 68.3, SE = 14.1) (log rank = 12.2, df = 2, p = .002). The effect remained significant in a Cox model after adjustment for baseline level of heroin use and during treatment level of cocaine use. Intermittent cannabis use was also associated with greater adherence to naltrexone pill-taking. Treatment interacted with cannabis use level, such that intensive behavioral therapy appeared to moderate the adverse prognosis in the consistent cannabis use group. The association between moderate cannabis use and improved retention on naltrexone treatment was replicated. Experimental studies are needed to directly test the hypothesis that cannabinoid agonists exert a beneficial pharmacological effect on naltrexone maintenance and to understand the mechanism.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.