Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2015
Safety of oral dronabinol during opioid withdrawal in humans.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Alleviation of opioid withdrawal by cannabis and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol: A systematic review of observational and experimental human studies.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Pooled it
- Medical cannabinoids: a pharmacology-based systematic review and meta-analysis for all relevant medical indications.BMC medicine · 2022Pooled it
- How effective and safe is medical cannabis as a treatment of mental disorders? A systematic review.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- What is the Current Knowledge About the Cardiovascular Risk for Users of Cannabis-Based Products? A Systematic Review.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2017Pooled it
- Opioid withdrawal suppression efficacy of oral dronabinol in opioid dependent humans.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2016Trial
- The effects of vaped cannabis on the severity of naloxone-precipitated opioid withdrawal.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- A Scoping Review of Non-Opioid Therapeutics for Opioid Withdrawal: Translational Relevance to Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS) Research.Clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- Effects of ΔThe Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Cannabis Use in Opioid Maintenance Therapy: Prevalence, Clinical Correlates and Reasons for Use.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- The Role of Medicinal Cannabis as an Emerging Therapy for Opioid Use Disorder.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- ΔJournal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Evidence from Human Studies for Utilising Cannabinoids for the Treatment of Substance-Use Disorders: A Scoping Review with a Systematic Approach.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The endocannabinoid system and breathing.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Clinical Trial Design Challenges and Opportunities for Emerging Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder: A Review.JAMA psychiatry · 2023Review
- Cannabinoids-Perspectives for Individual Treatment in Selected Patients: Analysis of the Case Series.Biomedicines · 2022Article
- The Cannabinoid Receptor Type 1 Positive Allosteric Modulator ZCZ011 Attenuates Naloxone-Precipitated Diarrhea and Weight Loss in Oxycodone-Dependent Mice.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2022Article
- Prospects for the Use of Cannabinoids in Psychiatric Disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
- Review
- Therapeutic potential of opioid/cannabinoid combinations in humans: Review of the evidence.European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Review
- Non-Opioid Neurotransmitter Systems that Contribute to the Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome: A Review of Preclinical and Human Evidence.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOpioid dependence remains a significant public health problem worldwide with only three FDA-approved treatments, all targeting the mu-opioid receptor. Dronabinol, a cannabinoid (CB) 1 receptor agonist, is currently under investigation as a novel opioid withdrawal treatment. This study reports on safety outcomes of dronabinol among adults in opioid withdrawal.
methodsTwelve adults physically dependent on short-acting opioids participated in this 5-week within-subject, randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled inpatient study. Volunteers were maintained on oral oxycodone 30 mg qid. Double-blind placebo substitutions occurred for 21 h before each of 7 experimental sessions in order to produce opioid withdrawal. A single oral test dose was administered each session (placebo, oxycodone 30 and 60 mg, dronabinol 5, 10, 20, and 30 mg [decreased from 40 mg]). Heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory outcomes and pupil diameter were assessed repeatedly.
resultsDronabinol 40 mg produced sustained sinus tachycardia accompanied by anxiety and panic necessitating dose reduction to 30 mg. Sinus tachycardia and anxiety also occurred in one volunteer after dronabinol 20mg. Compared to placebo, dronabinol 20 and 30 mg produced significant increases in heart rate beginning 1h after drug administration that lasted approximately 2h (p<0.05). Dronabinol 5 and 10mg produced placebo-like effects. Oxycodone produced prototypic mu-opioid agonist effects (e.g., miosis).
conclusionDronabinol 20mg and higher increased heart rate among healthy adults at rest who were in a state of opioid withdrawal, raising concern about its safety. These results have important implications for future dosing strategies and may limit the utility of dronabinol as a treatment for opioid withdrawal.
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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.