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Updated: Jan 12, 2026
Brain Morphology of Cannabis Users With or Without Psychosis: A Pilot MRI Study
Published on: August 18, 2020
Brief mindfulness intervention for adults with cannabis use disorder: A randomised clinical trial
Valentina Lorenzetti1, Eugene McTavish2, Hannah Thomson2
1Neuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia; Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
Background:
Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is characterised by strong cravings and an inability to reduce cannabis use despite experiencing adverse psychosocial outcomes. Brief, accessible, scalable, and low-cost interventions are needed to support people with a CUD. We investigated if a brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) reduces cannabis frequency, quantity and craving, compared to both an active and passive control conditions.
Methods:
A pre-registered, double-blind randomised control trial was run in in 66 adults (19 female) aged 18-56 with CUD reporting attempts to cut down or quit in the past 2 years, recruited from the general community (October 2019-July 2022). Participants were 1:1:1 allocated, to one of 3 interventions; MBI (n = 23), Relaxation (n = 21) or Control (n = 22) with a mean duration of 16 days, stratified by age and sex. All conditions included daily monitoring of usage. Baseline and follow-up in person testing occurred in Melbourne, Australia. The intervention occurred online. The primary outcome was change in cannabis use days (Δ follow-up minus baseline). Secondary outcomes were changes (Δ follow-up minus baseline) in: cannabis grams and craving (visual analogue scale; VAS), mindfulness (Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire) and relaxation (VAS). We carried out intention-to-treat analysis.
Results:
There were no significant intervention-by-time effects on the primary outcome - cannabis frequency (F=0.26, FDRp = .86)-nor on secondary outcomes: quantity, cravings, relaxation or mindfulness.
Conclusion:
Based on these findings a brief MBI does not appear to help people with CUD reduce their cannabis use.
Trial Registration:
ISRCTN Registry Identifier: ISRCTN76056942 (Mapping short-term brain changes in cannabis users). Submission date: 28/04/2020. Registration date: 12/05/2020. The interventions are described below and here: ISRCTN76056942 https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN76056942 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN76056942). The pre-registered hypotheses and analysis plan can be found here: https://osf.io/sfjwk.
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