ArticleAddiction biology2019
Varenicline and nabilone in tobacco and cannabis co-users: effects on tobacco abstinence, withdrawal and a laboratory model of cannabis relapse.
Article in Addiction biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 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
- Medical cannabinoids: a pharmacology-based systematic review and meta-analysis for all relevant medical indications.BMC medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Cannabis Use and Nicotine Vaping Cessation Outcomes: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Varenicline as a treatment for cannabis use disorder: A placebo-controlled pilot trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Trial
- Impact of smoked cannabis on tobacco cigarette smoking intensity and subjective effects: A placebo-controlled, double-blind, within-subjects human laboratory study.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2021Trial
- Pharmacotherapy for Cannabis Use Disorder: Preclinical and Clinical Models.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2026Review
- Effects of Inhaled Tobacco and Cannabis Co-Use on Respiratory Health and Tobacco Cessation: An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- [Cannabis use and cannabis use disorders].Der Nervenarzt · 2024Review
- Cannabis Use Disorder Symptoms in Weekly Cannabis Users: A Network Comparison Between Daily Cigarette Users and Nondaily Cigarette Users.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2024Article
- Support Provided by Stop-Smoking Practitioners to Co-users of Tobacco and Cannabis: A Qualitative Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Predicting Time to Return to Cannabis Use After a Cessation Attempt: Impact of Cumulated Exposure to Nicotine-Containing Products.Tobacco use insights · 2024Article
- Clinical management of cannabis withdrawal.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Review
- Helpful or Harmful? The Therapeutic Potential of Medications with Varying Degrees of Abuse Liability in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders.Current addiction reports · 2022Review
- Responses to social evaluative stress in regular cannabis smokers.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Treatment Implications Associated with Cannabis and Tobacco Co-Use.Current addiction reports · 2020Article
- Evidence for the Endocannabinoid System as a Therapeutic Target in the Treatment of Cannabis Use Disorder.Current addiction reports · 2020Article
- Proceedings of the 2024 Cannabis Clinical Outcomes Research Conference.Medical cannabis and cannabinoidsArticle
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 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Tobacco and cannabis co-users (T+CUs) have poor cannabis cessation outcomes, but the mechanisms underlying this are not well understood. This laboratory study examined the effects of (1) the partial nicotinic agonist, varenicline, on tobacco cessation among T+CUs, and (2) varenicline, alone, and when combined with the cannabinoid agonist nabilone, on cannabis withdrawal and a laboratory model of cannabis relapse. Non-treatment-seeking T+CUs were randomized to active-varenicline or placebo-varenicline, and completed a 15-day outpatient phase; varenicline was titrated to 1 mg BID during days 1-8, and participants were instructed to abstain from tobacco during days 9-15. Participants then moved inpatient for 16 days, where they continued their outpatient medication and tobacco abstinence. Inpatient testing included two, 8-day medication periods, where active-nabilone and placebo-nabilone were administered in counterbalanced order, and measures of acute cannabis effects (days 1-2), withdrawal (days 4-5) and 'relapse' (days 6-8) were collected. Participants in the active-varenicline group were more likely to achieve cotinine-verified tobacco abstinence during the outpatient period versus placebo-varenicline group (46 percent versus 24 percent, respectively), and also reported less mood disturbance and cigarette craving while inpatient. Active-nabilone attenuated cannabis withdrawal in both groups but did not affect cannabis relapse. Regression analyses revealed that two tobacco-related variables, i.e. age of first cigarette use, and cigarette craving while inpatient, were independent predictors of cannabis relapse outcomes. Thus, varenicline holds promise in this population, as a tool to examine the effects of tobacco abstinence on cannabis use outcomes, and as a component of smoking cessation treatments targeting T+CUs.
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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.