Trial reportPsychopharmacology2012
Balanced placebo design with marijuana: pharmacological and expectancy effects on impulsivity and risk taking.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07061886 (Drug Effects on Mood and Behavior - Expectancy), which is not on this map. Cited by 77 papers, 4 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.
Drug Effects on Mood and Behavior - Expectancy
Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 147 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
- Does acute cannabidiol (CBD) use impair performance? A meta-analysis and comparison with placebo and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Does being drunk or high cause HIV sexual risk behavior? A systematic review of drug administration studies.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2018Pooled it
- Effects of cannabis on impulsivity: a systematic review of neuroimaging findings.Current pharmaceutical design · 2014Pooled it
- Working memory capacity predicts cannabis-induced effects on alcohol urge.Addictive behaviors · 2026Trial
- Acute Effects of Cannabis on Alcohol Craving and Consumption: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial.The American journal of psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Effects of cannabidiol in cannabis flower: Implications for harm reduction.Addiction biology · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Marijuana's acute effects on cognitive bias for affective and marijuana cues.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- Altered placebo and drug labeling changes the outcome of episodic migraine attacks.Science translational medicine · 2014Trial
- Influence of cannabis potency on mental health outcomes among adolescents and young adults: scoping review.BJPsych open · 2026Review
- Is toke cheap? Correspondence between cannabis demand and purchase in the laboratory.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Sex differences in the acute effects of cannabis: the need for hypothesis-driven research.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2026Article
- Use and co-use of alcohol and cannabis following physical pain in the daily life of community adults engaged in regular substance use.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2024Article
- Effect of nicotine expectancy and nicotine dose reduction on cigarette demand, withdrawal alleviation, and puff topography.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Simultaneous Alcohol and Cannabis Use and High-Risk Sexual Behaviors.Cannabis (Albuquerque, N.M.) · 2024Article
- Regular cannabis use alters the neural dynamics serving complex motor control.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Longitudinal Examination of Sexual Risk Behavior in College Students With and Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Article
- Article
- Harnessing placebo: Lessons from psychedelic science.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2023Review
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleMarijuana is believed to increase impulsivity and risk taking, but the processes whereby it affects such behaviors are not understood. Indeed, either the pharmacologic effect of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or the expectancy of receiving it may lead to deficits in cognitive processing and increases in risk taking. OBJECTIVES AND
methodsWe examined the relative effects of expecting to receive active marijuana and the pharmacological drug effects using a balanced placebo design. Young adult regular marijuana users (N = 136) were randomly assigned into one of four groups in a two × two instructional set (Told THC vs. Told no THC) by drug administration (smoked marijuana with 2.8 % THC vs. placebo) design. Dependent measures included subjective intoxication, behavioral impulsivity, and decision-making related to risky behaviors.
resultsActive THC, regardless of expectancy, impaired inhibition on the Stop Signal and Stroop Color-Word tasks. Expectancy of having smoked THC, regardless of active drug, decreased impulsive decision-making on a delay discounting task among participants reporting no deception and increased perception of sexual risk among women, consistent with a compensatory effect. Expectancy of smoking THC in combination with active THC increased negative perceptions from risky alcohol use. Active drug and expectancy independently increased subjective intoxication.
conclusionsResults highlight the importance of marijuana expectancy effects as users believing they are smoking marijuana may compensate for expected intoxication effects when engaged in deliberate decision-making by making less impulsive and risky decisions. Effects of marijuana on impulsive disinhibition, by contrast, reflect direct pharmacologic effects for which participants did not compensate.
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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.