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Cannabis legislation and attitudes towards use are changing. Given that evidence from cultural neuroscience research suggests that culture influences the neurobiological mechanisms underlying behaviour, it is of great importance to understand how cannabis legislation and attitudes might affect the brain processes underlying cannabis use disorder. Brain activity of 100 dependent cannabis users and 84 controls was recorded during an N‐back working memory (WM) task in participants from the Netherlands (NL; users = 60, controls = 52) and Texas, USA (TX; users = 40, controls = 32). Participants completed a cannabis culture questionnaire as a measure of perceived benefits (positive) and perceived harms (negative) of cannabis from their personal, friends–family's and country–state's perspectives. Amount of cannabis use (grams/week), DSM‐5 CUD symptoms and cannabis use‐related problems were assessed. Cannabis users self‐reported more positive and less negative (personal and friends–family) cannabis attitudes than controls, with this effect being significantly larger in the TX cannabis users. No site difference in country–state attitudes was observed. TX cannabis users, compared with NL cannabis users, and those cannabis users perceiving more positive country–state attitudes showed a more positive association between grams/week and WM‐related activity in the superior parietal lobe. NL cannabis users, compared with TX cannabis users, and those cannabis users with less positive personal attitudes showed a more positive association between grams/week and WM‐load‐related activity in the temporal pole. Both site and cultural attitudes moderated the association of quantity of cannabis use with WM‐ and WM‐load‐related activity. Importantly, differences in legislation did not align with perceived cannabis attitudes and appear to be differentially associated with cannabis use‐related brain activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Cognitive and motivational processes are thought to underlie cannabis use disorder (CUD), but research assessing how cognitive processes [e.g. interference control (IC)] interact with implicit [e.g. attentional bias (AB)] and explicit motivation (i.e. craving) is lacking. We assessed the presence of AB in cannabis users with varying use severity and tested models of moderation, mediation and moderated mediation to assess how AB, craving and IC interact in their association with measures of cannabis use. Design: A cross‐sectional study design was used. Setting and participants: Eight studies performed by our laboratory in the Netherlands including never‐sporadic, occasional (≤ 1/month) and regular cannabis users (≥ 2/week), and individuals in treatment for CUD were combined (n = 560; 71% male). Measurements Studies included a classic Stroop task (IC), a cannabis Stroop task (AB) and measures of session‐induced and average session craving. Both heaviness of cannabis use (grams/week) and severity of use related problems were included. Findings Only those in treatment for CUD showed an AB to cannabis (P = 0.019) and group differences were only observed when comparing CUD with never‐sporadic users (P = 0.007). In occasional and regular users, IC was negatively associated with heaviness (β = 0.015, P < 0.001), but not severity of use. Average session craving (exploratory), but not session‐induced craving (confirmatory), mediated this association between AB and heaviness (β = 0.050, P = 0.011) as well as severity of use (β = 0.083, P = 0.009); higher AB was associated with heavier use and more severe problems through increased craving. Conclusions: Attentional bias only appears to be present in cannabis users with the most severe problems and craving appears to mediate the association between attentional bias and both heaviness and severity of use in occasional and regular users. The association of interference control with heaviness but not severity of use may point to subacute intoxication effects of cannabis use on interference control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors argue for urgent government action to address nitrous oxide (N2O) addiction and related harms. Emphasis is given on the importance of treating N2O as a potentially addictive substance to highlight the urgency for additional research and evidence-based regulation and to encourage education about its risks and the accessibility of healthcare. The authors call for research funding to increase knowledge on the addictive potential of N2O and signs and symptoms of N2O use disorder.

Background and aims: Lockdown measures aimed at limiting the number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) have introduced substantial psychosocial stressors in everyday life. We aimed to investigate the influence of the Dutch lockdown on cannabis use and cannabis use disorder (CUD) and investigate relations with change in mental wellbeing and experienced psychosocial stressors during the lockdown. Design Explorative longitudinal baseline‐, pre‐ and during lockdown survey study. Setting: The Netherlands, on‐line between January 2019 and May 2020. Participants: Community sample of 120 monthly to daily cannabis users and reference group of 63 non‐using controls. Measurements Change in cannabis use and CUD symptom severity from baseline to pre‐ to post‐lockdown. Change in cannabis use motives, mental health, quality of social relationships and job status from pre‐ to post‐lockdown. Findings In cannabis users, lockdown related to increased cannabis use [B = 1.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.26–3.66, P = 0.024], but not CUD symptom severity. Cannabis users experienced 30% job loss and increased loneliness [P < 0.001, Bayes factor (BF)10 > 100], while contact with partners (P = 0.005, BF10= 8.21) and families improved (P < 0.001, BF10 = 19.73), with no differences between cannabis users and control. Generally, mental health problems (all Ps > 0.277, all BF10 < 0.139) did not change, but individual differences were significant and severity of cannabis use pre‐lockdown, COVID‐19‐related worries, change in anxiety, expansion motives, social motives and family contact all uniquely related to variance in change in cannabis use or CUD. Conclusions: While cannabis use among daily cannabis users in the Netherlands increased at the group level during the period of COVID‐19 lockdown, the effect of the first months of lockdown on cannabis use disorder severity and mental wellbeing varied significantly among individual daily cannabis users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cannabis policies and attitudes play a role in the development and presentation of cannabis use disorder (CUD), but it is unclear how these factors are related to biomarkers of addiction. The current study examined cross-cultural differences in cannabis attitudes, cannabis cue-reactivity in the brain and its associations with cannabis use measures and cannabis attitudes., Design: Cross-sectional fMRI study., Setting: The Netherlands (NL) and Texas (TX), USA., Participants: 104 cannabis users with CUD (44% female; NL-CUD = 54, TX-CUD = 50) and 83 non-using controls (52% female; NL-CON = 50, TX-CON = 33)., Measurements: Self-reported positive (perceived benefits) and negative (perceived harms) cannabis attitudes and tactile cannabis cue-reactivity assessed using a 3T MRI scanner., Findings: While the CUD group overall was more positive and less negative about cannabis and reported higher craving, the TX-CUD group reported significantly more positive and less negative attitudes and less craving than the NL-CUD group. Cannabis cue-reactivity was observed in the CUD group in clusters including the precuneus, lateral occipital cortex, frontal medial cortex, nucleus accumbens, and thalamus. In the TX-CUD group, a positive association was observed between symptom severity and cue-induced craving and cannabis cue-reactivity in precuneus and occipital cortex clusters, while a negative association was observed in the NL-CUD group. In these clusters, individuals with more positive attitudes exhibited a positive association between craving and cue-reactivity and those with less positive attitudes exhibited a negative association. No associations with quantity of use were observed., Conclusions: Cue-induced craving might be deferentially associated with cannabis cue-reactivity across distinct cannabis use environments., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)