Cannabis Use Characteristics and Reasons for Product Choices Among Patients Accessing Treatment for Substance Use Disorders: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Objective: The diversity and potency of cannabis products have increased in recent years, underscoring the importance of understanding which products are being used and why. Patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) use have a high prevalence of risky cannabis use, making it especially important to understand use patterns in this group. We aimed to first describe cannabis product characteristics and then explore reasons for choosing products in our sample.

Rasch Analysis of Cannabis Use Disorder in an Adult Inpatient Sample.

Objective: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version 5 (DSM-5) defines cannabis use disorder as a polythetic unidimensional diagnosis (>2 symptoms from up to 11), but few studies have empirically evaluated the latent structure of CUD. Rasch analysis is a psychometric technique that has previously been used to validate unidimensional scales, like DSM-5 CUD.

Method: In this study, the Rasch model was used to evaluate the DSM-5 CUD criteria in a clinical sample of adults receiving inpatient treatment for substance use disorder ( = 249) reporting active cannabis use at admission.

Changes in alcohol-related social network composition mediate the effects of AA meeting attendance on drinking following a recovery attempt in adults with alcohol use disorder.

Aims: To assess whether changes in social network drinking is a mechanism of behaviour change responsible for the benefits of attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) during a recovery attempt.

Design: An observational longitudinal cohort study investigating mechanisms of behaviour change among adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD) reporting initiation of a substantial recovery attempt.

Setting: Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Validity of a brief egocentric social network assessment in adults with alcohol use disorder: Direct comparison of 5-alter and 20-alter versions.

Social network analysis offers a high-resolution framework for understanding social influences on alcohol use, but full-length assessments confer significant burden, giving rise to brief measures. However, few studies have empirically compared brief and full-length assessments. To address this, the present study examined the internal and external validity of both brief and full egocentric social network assessments and their ability to capture weak social ties.

Genome-Wide Association Studies of Delay Discounting and Impulsive Personality Traits in Children From the Adolescent Behavior and Cognitive Development Study.

Impulsivity, often operationalized as delay discounting (DD) and as impulsive personality traits via the UPPS-P scales, is a key transdiagnostic construct across psychiatric disorders. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have studied the genetic basis of impulsivity in adults, but it remains unclear how similar the genetic architecture of DD is in children. The present study conducted GWAS of DD and impulsivity traits in 5548 children (ages 9-10 years old) of genetically inferred European ancestry from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.

Externalizing as a common genetic influence for a broad spectrum of substance use and behavioral conditions: A developmental perspective from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

Background And Aims: Recent large studies have established the genetic basis of several conceptually linked phenotypes of externalizing. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for these constructs are associated with a range of substance use and mental disorder phenotypes but have not been examined with both pharmacological and non-pharmacological addictive behaviors, or across a developmental window. This study identified biological pathways responsible for observed associations between PRSs and addiction phenotypes.

Iterative development and clinical outcomes of an outpatient young adult substance use program.

Objective: Substance use problems peak in emerging adulthood and often co-occur with other psychiatric disorders. Developmentally tailored services are critical to reduce harms, promote recovery, and prevent persistence or exacerbation. The Young Adult Substance Use Program is an evidence-informed outpatient program for 17- to 25-year-olds that aligns with recent frameworks and principles for the treatment of substance use disorders among youth.

Taxonicity of cannabis use disorder: Findings from a large community sample and an inpatient clinical sample.

Operational diagnostic definitions of drug addiction have evolved considerably over the last 20 years, including both a predominantly dimensional one (substance use disorder; fifth edition) and a categorical one (substance dependence; 11th revision). Although cannabis is among the most commonly used psychoactive drugs, few studies have directly evaluated whether the underlying structure of cannabis use disorder is categorical or dimensional or have done so in a clinical sample. Three taxometric procedures, mean above-minus below a cut (MAMBAC), maximum eigenvalue (MAXEIG), latent mode (L-Mode), were conducted in two data sets: (a) participants who reported cannabis use in the National Epidemiological Study and Alcohol and Related Conditions III, a large, representative sample of U.

Prescription Opioid Medication Survey: A Tool to Collect Deep Phenotypic Data on the Multifactorial Pathways to Opioid Use Disorder in Clinical and Population-Based Cohorts.

Introduction: We are in the midst of an opioid epidemic. In the USA, more than a third of the country knows someone who has died from an opioid overdose. Prescription opioids (e.

Associations Between Cannabis Use and Mental Health in Patients Accessing Treatment for Substance Use Disorders: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study.

: Cannabis use is common among individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), yet its relationship with mental health characteristics in treatment-seeking populations remains unclear. : This study examined associations between cannabis use and mental health in patients seeking SUD treatment, to understand whether cannabis use relates to clinical characteristics relevant to SUD care. : A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 544 patients in Ontario, Canada seeking treatment for any SUD (including cannabis use disorder).

A Behavioural and neurobiological assessment of effort-based decision-making in cannabis use disorder: An initial/preliminary investigation.

Low motivation for noncannabis rewards is a common clinical feature of cannabis use disorder (CUD), yet its underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain largely unknown. This study applied a sequential effort-based decision-making task during functional magnetic resonance imaging to quantify motivation and test for potential neurofunctional differences during prospective effort/reward encoding (Cue1), integration of effort and reward cues (Cue2), and choice behaviour in individuals with CUD (n = 21) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 20). Behavioural in-scanner results demonstrated that participants in both groups made significantly fewer high-effort choices as effort levels increased on the task, yet they selected significantly more high-reward choices as reward magnitude increased.

Evaluating Impulsivity as a Mechanism of Behaviour Change for 12-step Engagement during Alcohol Use Disorder Recovery.

Objective: Participation in 12-step groups (TS), such as Alcoholics Anonymous, confers benefits among individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD), and one candidate mechanism underlying these effects is reductions in impulsivity. Using a multidimensional assessment of impulsivity, the current study examined impulsive personality and action in a longitudinal cohort of adults with AUD initiating a significant recovery attempt.

Methods: A prospective matched-sample cohort study design compared participants who reported a clinically meaningful increase in TS attendance (i.

Smoking in Substance Use Disorder Patients: Prevalence, Comorbidities, Impulsivity, and Patterns of Readiness to Change.

Introduction: Tobacco use is highly prevalent in individuals with other substance use disorders (SUDs) and is associated with greater smoking-related illnesses and premature death. To inform intervention strategies, the current study examined the prevalence and clinical features of smoking, including motivation for change, comorbid psychiatric symptoms, and self-regulatory indicators, in a large sample of treatment-seeking SUD patients.

Aims And Methods: Participants were 1893 patients in three clinical programs who were assessed for tobacco use, other substance misuse, psychiatric symptoms, measures of self-regulation (ie, delay discounting, UPPS-P impulsive behavior scales, mindfulness), and readiness rulers (ie, readiness, importance, and confidence).

Cannabis Use and Misuse Following Recreational Cannabis Legalization.

Importance: An increasing number of jurisdictions have legalized recreational cannabis for adults, but most evaluations have used repeated cross-sectional designs, preventing examination of within-person and subgroup trajectories across legalization.

Objective: To examine changes in cannabis use and misuse in the 5 years following legalization in Canada both overall and by prelegalization cannabis use frequency using a longitudinal design.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective cohort study included data from community-dwelling adults who participated in up to 11 biannual assessments from September 2018 to October 2023 in Ontario, Canada.

Changes in cannabis attitudes and perceptions in the five years following recreational legalization in Canada: Findings from an observational cohort study of community adults.

Background: Social acceptability and perceived risks/benefits are key attitudinal factors that influence substance use, and a major concern about cannabis legalization is an increase in more favourable attitudes ultimately leading to greater cannabis misuse. This study investigated perceptions of cannabis acceptability and risks/benefits over the 5 years following legalization in Canada, the first G7 nation to have legalized cannabis nationally, in a longitudinal observational cohort of community adults.

Methods: Participants (60 % female, median age = 29, 48% reporting cannabis use pre-legalization) were non-clinical adults from the general community who were assessed up to 11 times from September 2018 to October 2023 (mean waves = 9.

Mechanisms of change in a randomized control pilot study of partner-involved financial incentive treatments for dual-smoking couples.

Objective: Dual-smoker couples exhibit highly interdependent smoking behaviors, less frequent quit attempts, higher risk of relapse, and lower cessation rates. Financial incentive treatments are a promising form of intervention that lead to abstinence and can be adapted to address the motivational and relationship obstacles that dual-smoker couples face.

Method: We enrolled 95 dual-smoker couples (total = 190) in a randomized controlled trial (National Clinical Trials 04832360) to investigate the potential mechanisms by which two versions of partner-involved financial incentive treatments (combined in analyses) might facilitate quitting relative to a no-incentive control.

Tobacco use and impulsivity in people with mental illness: A systematic review.

Background And Objectives: Impulsivity is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of tobacco use, especially among individuals with comorbid mental illness, but the nature of this relationship is poorly understood. We systematically examined evidence for the relationship between impulsivity and tobacco use in people with psychiatric disorders.

Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, original peer-reviewed articles published from database inception to July 2024 were searched for using PubMed, Google Scholar, ProQuest, Ovid, and PsycINFO.

Rasch analysis of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder in a large inpatient sample.

Background: In the present study, we extend previous psychometric evaluations of the DSM-5 alcohol use disorder (AUD) criteria using Rasch analysis in a large clinical sample.

Methods: Adult patients with AUD (N = 1101) completed the DSM-5 AUD symptom checklist as part of routine clinical assessment upon admission to an inpatient substance use disorder treatment program. We conducted Rasch analysis of responses to the 11 criteria, examining model fit and item severities.

Association of recreational cannabis legalization with changes in medical, illegal, and total cannabis expenditures in Canada.

Background: Recreational cannabis legalization (RCL) is being adopted by a growing number of jurisdictions internationally. RCL aims to displace the illegal cannabis market and has the potential to disrupt the medical market, yet few studies have examined these dynamics empirically.

Methods: We used interrupted time series analysis to evaluate whether RCL (legislative passage in October 2017/implementation in October 2018) was associated with changes in quarterly national household expenditures on medical cannabis, illegal cannabis, and all cannabis types combined (licensed, illegal, and medical) in Canada from 2001 to 2023, adjusting for price fluctuations.

Subjective Response to Opioids Predicts Risk for Opioid Use Disorder.

Exposure to prescription opioids can lead to opioid use disorder (OUD) in some individuals, but we lack scalable tools to predict who is at risk. We collected retrospective data on the initial subjective effects of prescription opioids from 117,508 research participants, 5.3% of whom self-reported OUD.

Diagnostic validity of drinking behaviour for identifying alcohol use disorder: Findings from a representative sample of community adults and an inpatient clinical sample.

Background And Aims: Alcohol consumption is an inherent feature of alcohol use disorder (AUD), and drinking patterns may be diagnostically informative. This study had three aims: (1) to examine the classification accuracy of several individually analysed drinking behavior measures in a large sample of US community adults; (2) to extend the findings to an adult clinical sample; and (3) to examine potential sex differences.

Design: In cross-sectional epidemiological and clinical datasets, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate diagnostic classification using area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV).

Brain structural magnetic resonance imaging predictors of brief intervention response in individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Aims: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have identified brain structural predictors of treatment response in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) but with varying findings and primarily in male veterans. The present study investigated cortical surface area and thickness (CT) as predictors of brief intervention response in community-based adults with AUD.

Methods: Sixty-five non-treatment-seeking adults with AUD (44.

Psychometric validation of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) in adults with substance use disorders.

Objective: The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist for the (PCL-5) is one of the most widely used instruments in clinical practice, but there remain ongoing debates about its factor structure. Further, no study to date has undertaken psychometric validation of the PCL-5 among individuals seeking treatment for substance use disorder (SUD), a population for whom PTSD is highly concurrent and relevant to clinical care. The present study sought to examine three PTSD structural models and measurement invariance across sex and age in patients with SUD.

The increase in risk classification using Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health: an empirical examination in a sample of community adults in Ontario.

Introduction: The 2023 Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction drinking guidelines specify a universal low-risk threshold of 2 or fewer drinks per week, lower than previous guidelines that recommended no more than 10 drinks per week or 2 per occasion for females, and 15 per week or 3 per occasion for males. This study examined the increases in risk classification and perceptions of these new guideline thresholds.

Methods: Prevalence of those exceeding the new low-risk threshold was compared with that of previous and other international guidelines in an observational cohort of community adults (N = 1502) from southern Ontario who had been followed since 2018 (11 waves of data collection).