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CompletedNCT00838448Updated Jun 12, 2013

Interactions Between Physical Activity and Cannabis Use in Adults

An interventional study of Exercise in Cannabis Dependence, sponsored by Vanderbilt University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 35 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2013-06-12.

Sponsored by Vanderbilt University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years to 35 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

In this study the investigators will explore the relationship between physical activity and cannabis use. The investigators will compare regional brain activation detected by imaging technique(fRMI) before and after exercise in cannabis users and compare results with results from controls. The investigators hypothesize that the regional brain activation in response to visual cues (pictures related to cannabis use and food) will be different in cannabis users than in controls and that exercise will significantly alter brain responses to the cues.

Read the detailed description

It is unknown how the response of cannabis users might compare to those of non-users in response to similar dose of physical activity. We will therefore compare brain activation during craving to cannabis, a natural reward (food) and a neutral scene (nature images). The food cues will allow us to determine if effects of exercise on brain activation and craving generalize to two different reward conditions and the nature scenes provide a neutral, no rewarding control. In addition to the analysis of predetermined regions of interest, whole-brain exploratory analyses will also be conducted to examine for additional brain regions showing associations between various conditions of interest and regional brain activation.

Specific Aims

  1. To explore methodological factors involved in finding the relationship between PA and cannabis use.
  1. to examine the effects of cannabis and food cues on brain activation and craving in cannabis users and nonusers
  2. to examine the effects of vigorous exercise on brain activation and craving in response to cannabis and food cues.

Our working hypothesis is that the regional brain activation in response to drug cues will be different in cannabis users than in controls and that exercise will significantly alter brain responses to these cues in both groups. Our secondary hypothesis is that exercise will tend to normalize the abnormal brain activation observed in cannabis users.

Our expectation is that exercise will alter cue-responding in terms of brain activation or craving. It is possible that exercise may be a useful treatment in cannabis dependence. Future studies may examine this specific relationship.

There are no reports available exploring the relationship between physical activity and cannabis use.

Current data suggest that there are convergent findings regarding the chronic and acute effects of cannabis on brain activity

02

Conditions studied

  • Cannabis Dependence

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Keywords

  • exercise
  • cannabis use
  • visual cues
03

In context

Marijuana Abuse

517 studies on the registry are indexed under Marijuana Abuse; 114 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 30 is below the median of 60 across 421 interventional studies indexed under Marijuana Abuse.

Browse Marijuana Abuse studies →

Lead sponsor

Vanderbilt University is the lead sponsor of 508 studies on the registry; 19 are open to participants now.

Of its 7 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 5 (71%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 35 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Cases and Controls must:

    • Be able to understand the study and provide written informed consent.
    • Be male or female 18 -35 years of age.
    • Be in generally good health
    • If female of childbearing potential, have a negative serum pregnancy test on study day

Cases must:

  • Meet criteria for cannabis dependence as primary diagnosis as determined by the Substance Abuse module of SCID (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV).
  • Not currently seeking treatment for cannabis dependence.
  • Have a positive urine drug test for cannabis on the study day
  • Avoid alcohol and other recreational drug use (except cannabis and/or nicotine) for 48 h before testing.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cases and Controls must not:

    • Be pregnant or lactating
    • Have implanted electrical medical device (e.g. pacemaker, vagal nerve stimulator)
    • Have non-secure metallic foreign bodies
    • Have met criteria for another axis 1 diagnosis in the past 6 months
    • Receive psychotropically active or vasoactive medications (within 6 weeks of screen day)
    • Have chronic medical illness
    • Have epilepsy
    • Have a history of head injury that required hospitalization
    • Have claustrophobia
    • Have orthopedic or other problems precluding them from performing exercise protocol
    • Have body mass index (BMI) less than 19 kg/m2
    • Weighing more than 275 pounds (MRI table limit)

Cases must not:

  • Have current dependence, as determined by the SCID, on any psychoactive substance other than nicotine and/or cannabinoid
  • Have any serious medical or psychiatric illnesses and/or clinically significant symptoms, which in the judgment of the PI or his/her designee would make them unsafe, or would make compliance with the study protocol difficult or put the study staff at undue risk
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
30 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Cannabis users

    Cannabis users

    Behavioral: Exercise

  • Experimental
    Cannabis no-users

    Cannabis no-users

    Behavioral: Exercise

Interventions

  • BehavioralExercise

    Exercise performed on a treadmill for 20-30 minutes

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Craving for cannabis

    Time frame: 1 hour

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center
    Nashville, Tennessee 37232, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Charboneau EJ, Dietrich MS, Park S, Cao A, Watkins TJ, Blackford JU, Benningfield MM, Martin PR, Buchowski MS, Cowan RL. Cannabis cue-induced brain activation correlates with drug craving in limbic and visual salience regions: preliminary results. Psychiatry Res. 2013 Nov 30;214(2):122-31. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.06.005. Epub 2013 Sep 12. PubMed 24035535 ↗
  • Buchowski MS, Meade NN, Charboneau E, Park S, Dietrich MS, Cowan RL, Martin PR. Aerobic exercise training reduces cannabis craving and use in non-treatment seeking cannabis-dependent adults. PLoS One. 2011 Mar 8;6(3):e17465. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017465. PubMed 21408154 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 12, 2013, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00838448
Lead sponsor
Vanderbilt University
Responsible party
Maciej Buchowski (Research Professor, Vanderbilt University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 6, 2009
Start date
Jan 2009
Primary completion
Jan 2011
Completion
Jun 2013
Last update
Jun 12, 2013

Study contacts

Maciej S Buchowski, Ph.D.
principal investigator · Vanderbilt University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2013. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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