Marijuana Use, Dependency can be Treated by This Drug but With Potent Health Risks

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In order to supplement the existing psychosocial treatments on substance abuse, the researchers from Brown University conducted a study on the efficacy of the drug topiramate for treating the use of cannabis in adolescents.

The findings of their study showed that by incorporating the use of the drug topiramate in the treatment together with psychological counseling, particularly the motivational enhancement therapy (MET), the use of marijuana among the youth smokers was suppressed in a significant level as compared to a treatment, which only involves counseling alone, says a public release from EurekAlert.

There is one catch, however. Most of the youth smokers who participated in the study were not able to put up with the adverse medication side effects from topiramate.

"The positive news is it did seem to have some effect and that effect seemed to really be focused on helping people reduce how much they smoke when they smoke," said study lead author Robert Miranda Jr. in the journal Addiction Biology and member of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies in the Brown University School of Public Health.

"It's promising in the sense that it suggests that medications can help, but it asks questions about for whom it might be most effective because many people can't tolerate the medication."

Prior to this pilot study, there has been no known medication that was approved by the FDA in the treatment of cannabis dependence and misuse. The problem is, existing treatments like the use of counseling like MET have proven to be insufficient and were not able to be effective for the most part.

"Cannabis misuse accounts for nearly all of the substance abuse treatment admissions among youth in the United States," the researchers from Brown University wrote on the abstract of the study. "Most youths do not experience sustained benefit from existing psychosocial treatments; however, medication development research for treating adolescent cannabis misuse is almost nonexistent."

The research team conducted a test involving 66 participants who are cannabis users and aged between 15 to 24 years old. They volunteered to receive psychological and drug treatment with the hope of curbing their marijuana use. The volunteers were then divided into two groups: one involving topiramate and MET treatment and the other using placebo and MET.

In the end, 52 percent of those in the topiramate group backed out of the trial because of the side effects. The findings show that the treatment involving topiramate and MET reduced the amount of marijuana use among adolescents, but not the frequency of smoking.