This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, dopamine, brain science, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChRs) modulate the effects of the main psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in the brain.”
Key finding: Modulation of KYNA offers a pharmacological strategy for achieving abstinence from marijuana and preventing relapse.
Nature Neuroscience • 13 Oct 2013 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cannabis, dopamine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “The effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, are a pressing concern for global mental health.”
Key finding: Future research, they suggest, should focus on the relationships between cannabis-induced alterations in the dopamine system and behavioural effects in humans and animal models.
Nature • 16 Nov 2016 • Reviews
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, brain science, mental health. The source abstract begins by describing: “De Aquino JP, Sherif M, Radhakrishnan R, Cahill JD, Ranganathan M, D’Souza DC.”
Key finding: Palm Springs, CA, 3–7 Dec 2016: Poster T234; 2017.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 19 Sept 2018 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug, particularly during adolescence.”
Key finding: This study shows that tetrahydrocannabinol-induced cognitive deficits are mediated by a specific astrocytic ensemble in the nucleus accumbens whose manipulation prevents and reverses these effects.
Nature Communications • 09 Dec 2025 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, nicotine. The source abstract begins by describing: “The impact of secondhand marijuana smoke exposure on children is unknown.”
Key finding: More research is needed to assess the health impacts of marijuana smoke exposure on children and inform public health policy.
Pediatric Research • 02 Dec 2016 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cannabis, dopamine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “Use of one addictive drug typically influences the behavioral response to other drugs, either administered at the same time or a subsequent time point.”
Key finding: Our study adds to the rich literature on the interaction between drugs, including THC and opioids, and provides potential neural substates by which adolescent THC exposure influences responses to morphine later in life.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 10 Dec 2024 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, mental health. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cannabis is used widely as a recreational drug, and its legalization is an ongoing issue in several countries.”
Key finding: Here, we review the current state of knowledge about such vulnerability factors, the variations in types of cannabis, and the relationship between these and cognition and addiction.
Nature Reviews Neuroscience • 07 Apr 2016 • Reviews
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, alcohol, cannabis, nicotine. The source abstract begins by describing: “Substance use disorders (SUDs, including alcohol, cannabis, opioids, and tobacco) represent significant public health challenges.”
Key finding: Lastly, using a real-world dataset, we identified seven SUD-shared genes targeting drugs that may be repurposed for treating SUDs, particularly in those suffering from comorbid SUDs.
Molecular Psychiatry • 07 Oct 2025 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “Males and females show different patterns of cannabis use and related psychosocial outcomes.”
Key finding: This, in turn, could help to identify neural pathways specifically involved in vulnerable cannabis users (e.g., females with cannabis dependence) and inform individually tailored neurobiological targets for treatment.
Translational Psychiatry • 06 May 2021 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, alcohol, cocaine, cannabis. The source abstract begins by describing: “Mitchell O, Caudy MS.”
Neuropsychopharmacology • 17 Aug 2021 • Reviews
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, brain science, genetics, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “The view that substance addiction is a brain disease, although widely accepted in the neuroscience community, has become subject to acerbic criticism in recent years.”
Key finding: More broadly, we propose that these disagreements reveal the need for multidisciplinary research that integrates neuroscientific, behavioral, clinical, and sociocultural perspectives.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 22 Feb 2021 • Reviews
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “Alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis are among the most commonly used drugs.”
Key finding: We concluded that all of the substances have an impact on brain connectivity, but the effect differs depending on the dFNC state analyzed.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 14 Nov 2017 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, nicotine, mental health, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cannabis, a widely used psychoactive substance, can trigger acute cannabis-associated psychotic symptoms (CAPS) in people who use cannabis (PWUC).”
Key finding: In light of the movements towards legalization of recreational cannabis, more research should focus on the potential harms related to cannabis use, to educate PWUC and the public about risks related to its use.
Translational Psychiatry • 06 Sept 2022 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cannabis, mental health, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Substance use disorders (SUDs) commonly co-occur with mental illness.”
Key finding: These findings and our proposed policy recommendations could inform efforts towards targeted OUD interventions, particularly for individuals with underlying mental illness whose treatment and recovery are often more challenging.
Translational Psychiatry • 03 May 2021 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, brain science, genetics, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “During adolescence, frequent and heavy cannabis use can lead to serious adverse health effects and cannabis use disorder (CUD).”
Key finding: Our study provides novel insights into disease mechanisms regulated by adolescent exposure to THC in a sex- and brain region-specific manner.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 22 Aug 2022 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, nicotine, genetics, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Worldwide cannabis dependence is increasing, as is the concentration of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in street cannabis.”
Key finding: The acute modulation of the incentive salience of drug cues by CBD may possibly generalize to a treatment for other addictive disorders.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 28 Apr 2010 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, brain science, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Increased cannabis availability has contributed to increased use with concomitant incidence of adverse effects.”
Key finding: Thus, at doses that produce comparable ratings of intoxication, adolescents may exhibit greater cognitive impairment and alterations in brain function.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 02 Feb 2022 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, mental health, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “The main active ingredient in cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), can acutely induce psychotic symptoms and impair episodic and working memory.”
Key finding: Frequent cannabis users may show a blunted anti- psychotic response to CBD, which is of concern due to the high rates of cannabis use disorders in patients with schizophrenia.
Translational Psychiatry • 05 Sept 2018 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, brain science, mental health, animal study. The source abstract begins by describing: “Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the intoxicating constituent of cannabis and is responsible for the drug’s reinforcing effects.”
Key finding: Our findings are relevant for interpreting results of rat adolescent THC exposure studies, and may lend new insights into how THC impacts the brain in a sex-dependent manner.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 14 Sept 2020 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, nicotine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cannabis was previously associated with worse memory function in men but not in women.”
Key finding: Future studies should assess further neuronal mechanisms and social determinants associated with cognition in cannabis users.
Translational Psychiatry • 19 May 2026 • Research
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