• Joshua A Lile, Michael J Wesley, Thomas H Kelly, and Lon R Hays.
• Departments of aBehavioral SciencebPsychiatrycInternal Medicine, College of MedicinedDepartment of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
• Behav Pharmacol. 2016 Apr 1; 27 (2-3 Spec Issue): 215-24.

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to examine a potential mechanism of action of gabapentin to manage cannabis-use disorders by determining the interoceptive effects of gabapentin in cannabis users discriminating [INCREMENT]-tetrahydrocannabinol ([INCREMENT]-THC) using a pharmacologically selective drug-discrimination procedure. Eight cannabis users learned to discriminate 30 mg oral [INCREMENT]-THC from placebo and then received gabapentin (600 and 1200 mg), [INCREMENT]-THC (5, 15, and 30 mg), and placebo alone and in combination. Self-report, task performance, and physiological measures were also collected. [INCREMENT]-THC served as a discriminative stimulus, produced positive subjective effects, elevated heart rate, and impaired psychomotor performance. Both doses of gabapentin substituted for the [INCREMENT]-THC discriminative stimulus and engendered subjective and performance-impairing effects that overlapped with those of [INCREMENT]-THC when administered alone. When administered concurrently, gabapentin shifted the discriminative-stimulus effects of [INCREMENT]-THC leftward/upward, and combinations of [INCREMENT]-THC and gabapentin generally produced larger effects on cannabinoid-sensitive outcomes relative to [INCREMENT]-THC alone. These results suggest that one mechanism by which gabapentin might facilitate cannabis abstinence is by producing effects that overlap with those of cannabinoids.

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