Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2016
Opioid withdrawal suppression efficacy of oral dronabinol in opioid dependent humans.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07148206 (Dronabinol and Epidiolex to Manage Uncontrolled Residual Symptoms of Buprenorphine Initiation Trial), which is not on this map. Cited by 41 papers, 6 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.
Dronabinol and Epidiolex to Manage Uncontrolled Residual Symptoms of Buprenorphine Initiation Trial
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 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
- Association between state cannabis laws and opioid outcomes: A systematic review.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Pooled it
- The Potential Use of Cannabidiol in the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: A Systematic Review.Addiction biology · 2025Pooled it
- 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
- Associations Between Buprenorphine\Naloxone and Methadone Treatment and non-Opioid Substance Use in Prescription-Type Opioid Use Disorder: Secondary Analyses From the OPTIMA Study: Associations entre le traitement avec la buprénorphine/naloxone et avec la méthadone et l'utilisation de substances non opioïdes dans le trouble lié à l'usage d'opioïdes de type sur ordonnance : analyses secondaires de l'étude OPTIMA.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2024Trial
- Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol modulates pain sensitivity among persons receiving opioid agonist therapy for opioid use disorder: A within-subject, randomized, placebo-controlled laboratory study.Addiction biology · 2023Trial
- Ten-year outcomes of medical cannabis for chronic low back pain: opioid reduction, pain relief, and functional improvement in 1,000 patients.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- 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 effects of vaped cannabis on the severity of naloxone-precipitated opioid withdrawal.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Novel pharmacotherapies for opioid use disorder and opioid withdrawal.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- A Preliminary Investigation of Brain Cannabinoid Receptor Type 1 (CB1R) Availability in Men with Opioid Use Disorder.Research square · 2025Article
- Effects of ΔThe Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Clinicians' Perspectives on Cannabis Use and Cannabis Treatment in Clients Undertaking Opioid Dependence Treatment.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Recent HPLC-UV Approaches for Cannabinoid Analysis: From Extraction to Method Validation and Quantification Compliance.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A dose-ranging study of the physiological and self-reported effects of repeated, rapid infusion of remifentanil in people with opioid use disorder and physical dependence on fentanyl.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- The Role of Medicinal Cannabis as an Emerging Therapy for Opioid Use Disorder.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- Cannabinoids in the Treatment of Selected Mental Illnesses: Practical Approach and Overview of the Literature.Pharmacopsychiatry · 2024Review
- ΔJournal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
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
backgroundThe cannabinoid (CB) system is a rational novel target for treating opioid dependence, a significant public health problem around the world. This proof-of-concept study examined the potential efficacy of a CB1 receptor partial agonist, dronabinol, in relieving signs and symptoms of opioid withdrawal.
methodsTwelve opioid dependent adults participated in this 5-week, inpatient, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Volunteers were maintained on double-blind oxycodone (30mg oral, four times/day) and participated in a training session followed by 7 experimental sessions, each testing a single oral test dose (placebo, oxycodone 30 and 60mg, dronabinol 5, 10, 20, and 30mg [decreased from 40mg]). Placebo was substituted for oxycodone maintenance doses for 21h before each session in order to produce measurable opioid withdrawal. Outcomes included observer- and participant-ratings of opioid agonist, opioid withdrawal and psychomotor/cognitive performance.
resultsOxycodone produced prototypic opioid agonist effects (i.e. suppressing withdrawal and increasing subjective effects indicative of abuse liability). Dronabinol 5 and 10mg produced effects most similar to placebo, while the 20 and 30mg doses produced modest signals of withdrawal suppression that were accompanied by dose-related increases in high, sedation, bad effects, feelings of heart racing, and tachycardia. Dronabinol was not liked more than placebo, showed some impairment in cognitive performance, and was identified as marijuana with increasing dose.
conclusionCB1 receptor activation is a reasonable strategy to pursue for the treatment of opioid withdrawal; however, dronabinol is not a likely candidate given its modest withdrawal suppression effects of limited duration and previously reported tachycardia during opioid withdrawal.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.