Four weeks of CBD treatment showed potential cognitive improvements in people being treated for cannabis use disorder, based on secondary outcomes from a clinical trial.
Addiction psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, CUD patients, and pharmacotherapy researchers.
4-week improvementCBD treatment over 4 weeks was associated with cognitive function improvements in CUD patients
What the researchers found
Secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial found that four weeks of CBD treatment was associated with improvements in cognitive function among individuals being treated for cannabis use disorder.
Why it matters
Chronic cannabis use is associated with cognitive impairment, and finding that CBD may have pro-cognitive effects in CUD treatment could add therapeutic value beyond reducing cannabis use itself.
The numbers in context
Four-week cannabidiol treatment period with cognitive function assessed as secondary outcomes from a randomized clinical trial for CUD treatment.
How the study worked
Secondary outcome analysis from a randomized clinical trial of CBD for cannabis use disorder treatment.
Who was studied
Individuals with cannabis use disorder participating in a randomized clinical trial of CBD treatment.
What this study cannot tell us
Secondary outcome analysis was not the primary study endpoint; cognitive improvements could reflect reduced cannabis use rather than direct CBD effects; short treatment duration.
How to read the evidence
Secondary analysis from an RCT provides moderate evidence; primary endpoint was not cognition.
When this study was published
Recent clinical trial data contributing to growing CBD-for-CUD evidence base.
The bigger picture
If CBD can improve cognition during CUD treatment, this dual benefit (reducing use while improving cognitive function) could make it a particularly attractive treatment option for a disorder with no approved pharmacotherapies.
Replication
Adds cognitive data to the small but growing evidence base for CBD in CUD treatment.
Funding
Not specified
Conflicts of interest
Not specified
Questions still open
- Are cognitive improvements maintained after CBD treatment ends?
- Is the cognitive benefit from CBD direct or from reduced cannabis use?
- What CBD dose optimizes cognitive outcomes?
Read the original research
Effect of four-week cannabidiol treatment on cognitive function: secondary outcomes from a randomised clinical trial for the treatment of cannabis use disorder.
Psychopharmacology, 240(2), 337-346
Citation
Lees, Rachel; Hines, Lindsey A; Hindocha, Chandni; Baio, Gianluca; Shaban, Natacha D C; Stothart, George; Mofeez, Ali; Morgan, Celia J A; Curran, H Valerie; Freeman, Tom P. (2023). Effect of four-week cannabidiol treatment on cognitive function: secondary outcomes from a randomised clinical trial for the treatment of cannabis use disorder.. Psychopharmacology, 240(2), 337-346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-022-06303-5