Marijuana withdrawal symptoms

Laboratory studies have shown that animals exhibit symptoms of drug withdrawal after cessation of prolonged marijuana administration. Some studies on human have also shown withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, stomach pain, aggression, and anxiety after cessation of oral administration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana's principal psychoactive component. Now, NIDA-supported researchers at Mc Lean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and Columbia University in New York City have shown that people who on a regular basis smoke marijuana experience withdrawal symptoms after they stop smoking the substance.

Studies at Columbia University in New York City have demonstrated that, in addition to aggression, marijuana smokers will experience other withdrawal effects such as anxiety, stomach pain, and increased irritability during abstinence from the substance. "These results suggest that dependence may be an important consequence of repeated daily usage to marijuana," says NIDA-supported researcher Dr. Margaret Haney.

Dr. Haney and her colleagues investigated the effects of abstinence on 12 adult males with an average age of 28 years who, in the laboratory, smoked marijuana with THC concentrations of 3.1 percent or 1.8 percent, or marijuana cigarettes containing no active THC. All participants smoked inactive marijuana during the first 4 days of the study followed by either the high concentration, low concentration, or inactive marijuana on alternating 4-day periods. Three times each day, the participants completed a 50-item checklist that rated physical conditions such as hunger, dizziness, and headache and aspects of their mood, for example, anxiety, talkativeness, friendliness, or depression.

resources: nida Volume 15, Number 1 (March, 2000)

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