Overview
The primary objective of this study is to determine if increasing age confers greater vulnerability to the acute A) cognitive (e.g., memory, attention, psychomotor function), B) subjective (e.g., anxiogenic and rewarding effects), and C) cardiovascular (heart rate and blood pressure), effects of THC in adults > 21 years old. The secondary aims of the study are to explore age-related acute effects of THC on electrophysiological indices of information processing (e.g., auditory steady-state response (ASSR), oddball paradigm [P300], and resting state cortical noise) and to determine age-related differences in the metabolism of THC. It is hypothesized that increasing age will confer greater vulnerability to THC-induced cognitive impairments, anxiogenic effects, and cardiovascular effects but are less vulnerability to its rewarding effects. Increasing age will confer greater vulnerability to THC-induced deficits in electrophysiological indices of information processing including.
Eligibility
- at least one lifetime use of cannabis and/or THC in the past ten years
- negative urine screen for illicit substance use
- no other illicit substance use during the past three months
- not nicotine dependent (5 cigarettes per day; score of 3 on the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence)
- alcohol use ≤ 7 drinks/week in women and 14 in men
- no current or past serious mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar and related disorders, etc.) diagnosed with the use of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5)
- no family history of psychosis
- no history of significant medical or neurological disease per PI discretion
- BMI ≤ 32
- high school education or greater
- no positive pregnancy test and/or lactation
- English speaking