Gowin Joshua L, Stallsmith Vanessa, Weldon Katelyn, Dooley Gregory, Karoly Hollis C
Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.
Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2025 Sep 25. doi: 10.1007/s00213-025-06882-z.
Widespread legalization of cannabis in the US in recent years has coincided with increasing use of alcohol and cannabis at the same time. Cannabis is thought to confer synergistic effects on alcohol intoxication, and the potential for increased cognitive impairment is a concern. Most prior co-administration studies have relied on low-THC cannabis, limiting generalizability to real-world consumption of higher-THC, legal-market cannabis.
We tested whether legal-market cannabis confers verbal learning and memory impairment beyond the effects of an acute dose of alcohol in a sample of heavy-drinking adults who regularly use cannabis.
Participants (N = 60, 40% female) completed two laboratory sessions: an Alcohol Only session and a Cannabis + Alcohol session. At each session, participants completed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test before and after alcohol/cannabis use. Linear mixed-effects models evaluated effects of substance use condition and sex on number of words recalled immediately and after a short and long delay.
During immediate recall, participants recalled one fewer word per trial in the Cannabis + Alcohol Post-Use condition compared to the other conditions (p <.001). This effect was stronger in females (p =.003). During long delay recall, participants recalled 1.5 fewer words in both Post-Use conditions compared to both Pre-Use conditions. No sex differences emerged for delayed recall trials.
Legal-market cannabis was associated with acute verbal learning and memory impairments compared to alcohol alone, with females showing heightened vulnerability during initial encoding. Results highlight the risks of alcohol and cannabis co-use and underscore the importance of studying high-THC cannabis.
identifier NCT04998006.
近年来，美国大麻合法化范围不断扩大，与此同时，酒精和大麻的使用量也在增加。大麻被认为会对酒精中毒产生协同作用，人们担心这会增加认知障碍的可能性。大多数先前的联合使用研究都依赖于低四氢大麻酚（THC）含量的大麻，这限制了其对现实世界中高THC含量的合法市场大麻消费情况的普遍适用性。
我们测试了在经常使用大麻的重度饮酒成年人样本中，合法市场大麻除了急性剂量酒精的影响之外，是否还会导致言语学习和记忆障碍。
参与者（N = 60，40%为女性）完成了两个实验室环节：仅酒精环节和大麻 + 酒精环节。在每个环节中，参与者在使用酒精/大麻之前和之后完成了雷伊听觉词语学习测验。线性混合效应模型评估了物质使用情况和性别对即时回忆、短期延迟回忆和长期延迟回忆的单词数量的影响。
在即时回忆中，与其他情况相比，在大麻 + 酒精使用后条件下，参与者每次试验回忆的单词少一个（p <.001）。这种影响在女性中更强（p = 0.003）。在长期延迟回忆中，与两种使用前条件相比，在两种使用后条件下参与者回忆的单词少1.5个。延迟回忆试验未出现性别差异。
与单独使用酒精相比，合法市场大麻与急性言语学习和记忆障碍有关，女性在初始编码期间表现出更高的易感性。结果突出了酒精和大麻共同使用的风险，并强调了研究高THC含量大麻的重要性。
标识符NCT04998006
