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NIH Awards Indiana University $2 Million to Study Cannabis Effects on Adolescents

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Indiana University has announced neuroscientists at the IU Gill Center for Biomolecular Science received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse to research the effects of cannabis use in adolescents aged 12-14.

Researchers Hui-Chen Lu and Ken Mackie have developed a method using mice to study the effects of cannabis use during adolescence. To mimic huma diversity, the researchers are using mice with diverse genetic backgrounds, as well as using male and female mice to see if there are any sex-dependent differences in effects of THC.

“This is a significant public health concern,” said Hui-Chen Lu, director of the Gill Center and a professor in the IU College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. “Today’s cannabis strains are being bred for increased THC content. It’s very different and much riskier than the more traditional strains used in the past. There’s an urgent need to understand the effects of these new strains.”

Ken Mackie, Jack and Linda Gill Chair of the Gill Center and a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, said previous studies have indicated heavy cannabis use of high-THC products increase the risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders anywhere from two- to five-fold.

“One of the functions of the prefrontal cortex is working memory, as well as processes like planning and impulse control,” Mackie said. “That part of the brain is still developing in adolescence, and developing brain structures are particularly vulnerable to environmental impacts, such as drug use or stress.”

The effects of cannabis on youth and adolescents have been previously studied as more states legalize cannabis for recreational use as more people become concerned that legalized cannabis could lead to increased access to cannabis. A recent study published in the journal “Addiction” found cannabis use can lead to long-term cognitive effects, especially for adolescents.

“Our study enabled us to highlight several areas of cognition impaired by cannabis use, including problems concentrating and difficulties remembering and learning, which may have considerable impact on users’ daily lives,” said Dr. Alexandre Dumais, study co-author and associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal.

The NIDA also recently awarded another grant to a cardiologist and associate professor of clinical medicine in the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine to study the risks and benefits of cannabis use on heart health in HIV positive patients. The four-year, $2.3 million Avenir Award will support Dr. Claudia Martinez’s study titled Cannabis-Heart and HIV study, or CannHeart, which builds upon her previous research into cocaine use and patients with HIV as well as the effects on the heart from antiretroviral therapy.

“We know that people with HIV have a higher risk of heart disease, but don’t know what happens when they use cannabis, which for them is legal to use for medical reasons,” Dr. Martinez said. “So, they are getting the cannabis for health benefits, yet we may be increasing their cardiovascular risk, we don’t know.”

House Appropriations Committee leaders have recently released a set of spending reports that focus on cannabis and other drug policy issues, with the latest reports specifically looking at cannabis research barriers, impaired driving and preventing use by youth and pregnant people.

“The Committee includes $2,000,000 for NIDA to enter into a contract with NASEM to commission a study to determine the scope of the problem of underage youth and perinatal marijuana use and effective ways of reducing it,” the report mentioned. “Topics explored should include but not be limited to the demographics of underage and perinatal marijuana use; its economic and social costs; adolescent and perinatal decision making and risk and protective factors; and the effectiveness of various prevention programs and approaches, including media campaigns, school-based education, pricing, and access.