Combination of Dronabinol and Clonidine for Cannabis Dependence in Patients With Schizophrenia
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2017-08-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Cannabis use disorders are an important public health problem in the United States, but no
effective pharmacotherapies are available to treat these disorders. People with schizophrenia
are more likely than healthy people to abuse cannabis. Cannabis use may worsen clinical
outcomes in this group, making the identification of pharmacotherapy to treat cannabis
dependence in those with schizophrenia important. The investigators intend to test the
combination of dronabinol, a cannabinoid agonist, and the α2-adrenergic agonist clonidine,
for cannabis dependence in subjects with schizophrenia. The combination of dronabinol and
clonidine may alleviate cannabis withdrawal symptoms while allowing treatment-seeking
outpatients to benefit from medical management (MM) sessions when they are trying to stop
using cannabis. The investigators propose to assess the relationship of dronabinol and
clonidine, when added to MM, on cannabis use patterns in cannabis-dependent patients with
schizophrenia.
Hypothesis: The investigators predict that combination pharmacotherapy of dronabinol and
clonidine will significantly reduce cannabis use compared to those receiving placebo.