Examine the Feasibility of a Standardized Field Test for Marijuana and Alcohol Impairment: Laboratory Evaluations

• Status: Recruiting
• Trial end date: 2023-04-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Alcohol and Cannabis (CNB) are two of the most widely used intoxicants. The effects of driving while intoxicated on alcohol are well documented, resulting in numerous drunken driving laws and regulations. As CNB begins to be decriminalized, medical CNB use allowed in multiple U.S. states, and perception of harmfulness falls, CNB use is predicted to rise and it will become increasingly common to publicly encounter persons who recently used the drug. An area of potentially high concern is if ever-greater numbers of CNB users and its legalization will increase the risk of driving while intoxicated from recent CNB use, thereby increasing the risks to public safety. This study aims to examine the combined effects of smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol on simulated driving.

• Phase: Early Phase 1
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Yale University
• Collaborators: Hartford Hospital; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Treatments: Ethanol

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must have a driver's license; recent 2 years highway driving experience

• Cannabis use for at least the past 2 years and report of getting high when smoking cannabis to avoid recruiting novice/inexperienced users.

• Reports regularly drinking and smoking (does not need to be at the same time)

• Use cannabis at least 5 times within life up to daily use, with occasional day of abstinence with no symptoms of craving or withdrawal.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnancy, breastfeeding, and ineffective birth control methods.

• Current severe substance use disorder (except cannabis and tobacco substance use disorders)

• history of adverse effects with cannabis use

• serious medical, neuro-ophthalmological, or neurological illness (i.e. cancer, seizure disorders, encephalopathy)

• current diagnosis of any DSM-5 psychiatric disorder

• prior diagnosis of any DSM-5 psychiatric disorder

• report of any psychotic disorder in a first-degree relative

• history of head trauma with loss of consciousness > 30 minutes or concussion lasting 30 days.

• any medical/neurological condition that could compromise neurocognitive performance (i.e. epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, fetal alcohol syndrome)

• recovering alcoholics or anyone currently abstaining from alcohol.