Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2011
Sleep disturbance and the effects of extended-release zolpidem during cannabis withdrawal.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 3 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
55 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 114 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- Pharmacotherapies for cannabis dependence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Pharmacotherapies for cannabis dependence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Randomized controlled trial of zolpidem as a pharmacotherapy for cannabis use disorder.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Trial
- Assessing changes in sleep across four weeks among adolescents randomized to incentivized cannabis abstinence.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Trial
- Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia to reduce cannabis use: Results from a pilot randomized controlled trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Sleep time differs among people who co-use cocaine and cannabis compared to people who only use cocaine.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2021Trial
- Effects of zolpidem alone and in combination with nabilone on cannabis withdrawal and a laboratory model of relapse in cannabis users.Psychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- The Effects of Lithium Carbonate Supplemented with Nitrazepam on Sleep Disturbance during Cannabis Abstinence.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2015Trial
- Characterizing smoking topography of cannabis in heavy users.Psychopharmacology · 2012Trial
- Article
- Article
- Pharmacotherapy for Cannabis Use Disorder: Preclinical and Clinical Models.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2026Review
- Within-Person Bidirectional Relations Between Sleep Problems and Alcohol, Cannabis, and Co-Use Problems in a Representative U.S. Sample.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- UK Medical Cannabis Registry: A clinical outcomes analysis for insomnia.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Review
- Bidirectional associations between sleep and cannabis and alcohol (co-)use in daily life.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2024Article
- The phenotype of recovery XI: associations of sleep quality and perceived stress with discounting and quality of life in substance use recovery.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Cannabis self-administration in the human laboratory: a scoping review of ad libitum studies.Psychopharmacology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSleep difficulty is a common symptom of cannabis withdrawal, but little research has objectively measured sleep or explored the effects of hypnotic medication on sleep during cannabis withdrawal.
methodsTwenty daily cannabis users completed a within-subject crossover study. Participants alternated between periods of ad libitum cannabis use and short-term cannabis abstinence (3 days). Placebo was administered at bedtime during one abstinence period (withdrawal test) and extended-release zolpidem, a non-benzodiazepine GABA(A) receptor agonist, was administered during the other. Polysomnographic (PSG) sleep architecture measures, subjective ratings, and cognitive performance effects were assessed each day.
resultsDuring the placebo-abstinence period, participants had decreased sleep efficiency, total sleep time, percent time spent in Stage 1 and Stage 2 sleep, REM latency and subjective sleep quality, as well as increased sleep latency and time spent in REM sleep compared with when they were using cannabis. Zolpidem attenuated the effects of abstinence on sleep architecture and normalized sleep efficiency scores, but had no effect on sleep latency. Zolpidem was not associated with any significant side effects or next-day cognitive performance impairments.
conclusionsThese data extend prior research that indicates abrupt abstinence from cannabis can lead to clinically significant sleep disruption in daily users. The findings also indicate that sleep disruption associated with cannabis withdrawal can be attenuated by zolpidem, suggesting that hypnotic medications might be useful adjunct pharmacotherapies in the treatment of cannabis use disorders.
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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.