Cannabis self-administration in the human laboratory: a scoping review of ad libitum studies

Cannabis self-administration studies may be helpful for identifying factors that influence cannabis consumption and subjective response to cannabis. Additionally, these paradigms could be useful for testing novel pharmacotherapies for cannabis use disorder. This scoping review aims to summarize the findings from existing ad libitum cannabis self-administration studies to determine what has been learned from these studies as well as their limitations. We examined studies that specifically examined cannabis smoking, focusing on subjective response and self-administration behavior (e.g., smoking topography). A systematic search was conducted using PubMed and Embase from inception to October 22, 2022. Our search strategy identified 26 studies (total N = 662, 79% male) that met our eligibility criteria. We found that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration significantly affected subjective response to cannabis in some but not all studies. In general, cannabis self-administration tended to be most intense at the beginning of the laboratory session and decreased in later parts of the session. There was limited data on cannabis self-administration in adults older than 55. Data on external validity and test-retest reliability were also limited. Addressing these limitations in future ad libitum cannabis self-administration studies could lead to more valid and generalizable paradigms, which in turn could be used to improve our understanding of cannabis use patterns and to help guide medication development for cannabis use disorder. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00213-023-06360-4.