Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27898071›Full record

Trial reportTranslational psychiatry2016

Are adolescents more vulnerable to the harmful effects of cannabis than adults? A placebo-controlled study in human males.

C Mokrysz, T P Freeman, S Korkki, K Griffiths, H V Curran

Abstract readComparative StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Translational psychiatry, 2016. 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.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
55citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

55 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Acute effects of different types of cannabis on young adult and adolescent resting-state brain networks.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024
    Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Adolescents are more sensitive than adults to acute behavioral and cognitive effects of THC.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022
    Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Cannabis Dampens the Effects of Music in Brain Regions Sensitive to Reward and Emotion.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2018
    Trial
  11. Trial
  12. Longitudinal neurocognitive trajectories in a large cohort of youth who use cannabis: combining self-report and toxicology.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

C MokryszClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-1970-8530
T P FreemanClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
S KorkkiBehavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
K GriffithsMRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
H V CurranClinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.

Funding

Medical Research Council MC_U105579215
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Preclinical research demonstrates that cannabinoids have differing effects in adolescent and adult animals. Whether these findings translate to humans has not yet been investigated. Here we believe we conducted the first study to compare the acute effects of cannabis in human adolescent (n=20; 16-17 years old) and adult (n=20; 24-28 years old) male cannabis users, in a placebo-controlled, double-blind cross-over design. After inhaling vaporized active or placebo cannabis, participants completed tasks assessing spatial working memory, episodic memory and response inhibition, alongside measures of blood pressure and heart rate, psychotomimetic symptoms and subjective drug effects (for example, 'stoned', 'want to have cannabis'). Results showed that on active cannabis, adolescents felt less stoned and reported fewer psychotomimetic symptoms than adults. Further, adults but not adolescents were more anxious and less alert during the active cannabis session (both pre- and post-drug administration). Following cannabis, cognitive impairment (reaction time on spatial working memory and prose recall following a delay) was greater in adults than adolescents. By contrast, cannabis impaired response inhibition accuracy in adolescents but not in adults. Moreover, following drug administration, the adolescents did not show satiety; instead they wanted more cannabis regardless of whether they had taken active or placebo cannabis, while the opposite was seen for adults. These contrasting profiles of adolescent resilience (blunted subjective, memory, physiological and psychotomimetic effects) and vulnerability (lack of satiety, impaired inhibitory processes) show some degree of translation from preclinical findings, and may contribute to escalated cannabis use by human adolescents.

Indexed as

Administration, InhalationAdolescentAdultAge FactorsArousalBlood PressureCannabisCross-Over StudiesDouble-Blind MethodHeart RateHumansInhibition, PsychologicalMaleMemory, EpisodicMemory, Short-TermSatiety Response

Identifiers

PMID27898071
PMCPMC5290352

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.