This study is a qualitative examination of twenty current and former users of marijuana, using in-depth interviews as the units of analysis. The relationship between the participants’ perceived costs and rewards, type and amount of linguistic accounts used, as well as frequency of use are explored using Homans' exchange theory and Lyman and Scott’s theory of accounts. Reasons for continuation, regulation, and cessation of use are also studied. It is found that the participants use marijuana for a varied amount of reasons; these reasons directly influence how they account for their behavior as well as their frequency of use, particularly whether or not they use marijuana on a daily basis.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

For over a century the international community has widely accepted a policy of universal drug prohibition. However, an increasing number of countries have been willing to experiment with progressive drug policies as the shortcomings of strict prohibition become more clear. This thesis is a study of the structures of drug laws in four countries – the Netherlands, Portugal, the United States, and Mexico – and their economic, public health, and human rights outcomes. The policies range in restrictiveness from the decriminalization of all drugs in Portugal to complete criminalization in Mexico. This thesis focuses on cannabis and heroin, two drugs which differ markedly in their risk for addiction and acute harm. A wide range of sources in the drug policy literature was analyzed. Evidence suggests that progressive policies in Portugal and the Netherlands have not significantly increased drug use and have led to numerous favorable public health outcomes. States in America that have legalized marijuana face many legal and economic challenges, and they should be observed closely as their policies develop further. Strict supply-control enforcement in Mexico has, on the other hand, led to an extreme upsurge in violent crime. These results suggest that in the future policymakers should drastically reallocate resources from ineffective supply-side strategies and pursue proven policies centered on public health and the protection of human rights.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating and costly mental illness. Many patients do not respond well to currently available treatments, and adverse side effects are common. Cannabidiol (CBD), a natural component of the Cannabis Sativa plant, has been shown to have a number of therapeutic qualities, including potential as a new antipsychotic. Although CBD has been used in several different models of schizophrenia, previous research has failed to consider possible sex differences in responsiveness to the compound. The present research therefore used both male and female rats in the widely used ketamine model of schizophrenia. PVG/C Hooded rats were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: a saline only control group (saline injection followed by second saline injection; N = 6M, 6F); ketamine only group (ketamine injection followed by saline injection; N = 6M, 6F); cannabidiol low dose group (ketamine injection followed by a cannabidiol injection of 10mg/kg; N = 6M, 6F); and a cannabidiol high dose group (ketamine injection followed by a cannabidiol injection of 20mg/kg; N = 6M, 6F). Behavioural testing occurred in a Y-maze and open-field, where both normal and stereotyped behaviours were recorded, as well as locomotor activity and spatial memory. Ketamine successfully induced stereotypy but failed to induce hyperlocomotion. Findings support the potential antipsychotic effects of CBD, particularly for reducing stereotypic behaviour in females. Results found data trends that suggest sex differences in responsiveness to CBD when administered with ketamine, although further research is needed due to lack of statistical significance.

<p>Substance use disorders are one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses among adolescents; marijuana is the illicit drug used most frequently by youth. Treatment dropout and relapse following treatment are common; innovative strategies are needed to improve treatment outcomes for youth substance abusers. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the feasibility of a virtual reality (VR) cue reactivity paradigm for adolescent cannabis abusers and to compare it to a video cue reactivity paradigm. Forty-two treatment-seeking youth with a cannabis use disorder completed the study, which incorporated three parts. During Part 1, drug and neutral video clips were shown to 11 youth and five substance-abuse experts who provided craving/usefulness ratings for each video clip. During Part 2, five youth met in a focus group and then individually to provide input on the development of the VR paradigm. During Part 3, 26 youth completed a laboratory procedure involving neutral and drug-related video clips and VR presentations. Heart rate, skin conductance, and skin temperature were measured as well as craving. Higher levels of craving and skin conductance were observed during drug-related presentations. The presentations did not significantly differ in their ability to elicit craving and arousal. Results suggest that youth can experience subjective and physiological reactivity to VR drug cues warranting further study with a larger, more diverse sample. Implications are discussed.</p> / Dissertation

Andelen ungdomar som inte uppfattar några större risker med cannabisbruk har ökat de senaste åren. Ungdomarnas uppfattning av riskerna med cannabisbruk påverkar huruvida de kommer att välja att avstå från eller bruka drogen. Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att se vilka risk- och skyddsfaktorer som påverkar ungdomars riskperception avseende cannabisbruk. Frågeställningarna har varit hur föräldrarna, skolan och vännerna påverkar riskperceptionen. Uppsatsen utgår från en subjektiv syn på riskperception som innebär att inte en faktor ensamt kan förklara om ungdomarna har en låg eller hög riskperception. För att analysera resultatet i uppsatsen har risk- och skyddsfaktorer, som har setts minska eller öka sannolikheten för ett cannabisbruk, använts. Det material som ligger till grund för uppsatsens undersökning är Centralförbundet för alkohol och narkotikas drogvaneundersökning från år 2010. Resultatet har tagits fram med hjälp av logistiska regressionsanalyser vilka visar hur starkt olika faktorer relateras till en låg riskperception även när hänsyn tas till andra faktorer. Flera faktorer kopplade till vännerna och föräldrarna har i resultatet visat sig ha ett statistiskt samband med ungdomarnas riskperception avseende cannabisbruk. Samtidigt fanns inget samband mellan skolan och riskperceptionen när föräldrarna och vänner togs med i beaktande. / The proportion of young people who do not perceive any major risks with cannabis use has increased in recent years. Adolescents' perception of the risks affects whether they will choose to use cannabis or not. The purpose of this essay has been to analyze risk and protective factors that influence young people's risk perception regarding cannabis use. The main questions have been how parents, school and friends affect risk perception. The essay is based on a subjective view of risk perception, which means that not a single factor alone can explain why the adolescent has a low or high risk perception. Risk and protective factors that have been observed to decrease or increase the likelihood of cannabis use have been used to analyze the result. The material that has been used in this essay is a survey conducted by the Centralförbundet för alkohol och narkotika year 2010 among Swedish teenagers. The result has been established by using logistic regression analyzes which shows how strongly different factors are related to a low risk perception even when other factors are taken into account. Several factors linked to friends and parents have proved to have a statistically association with adolescents risk perception regarding cannabis use, this while the school doesn’t.

The primary focus of this thesis was to examine the relationship of reward sensitivity and outcome expectancies, variables traditionally associated with alcohol use, to cannabis use behaviour and to explore the relationship of affect and locus of control to alcohol and cannabis use. It was hypothesised that hazardous alcohol and cannabis use would be related to higher levels of reward sensitivity and to the endorsement of more positive outcome expectancies. It was also hypothesised that positive outcome expectancies would mediate the relationship between reward sensitivity and cannabis use, and that the relationship between reward sensitivity and both alcohol and cannabis use would be moderated by punishment sensitivity. No specific hypotheses were formulated for the relationship of negative outcome expectancies, affect and locus of control of reinforcement to substance use. A total of 465 young adults aged between 18 and 35 years completed a questionnaire which assessed substance use patterns, reward and punishment sensitivity, outcome expectancies, locus of control, and affect. Results indicated that higher levels of reward sensitivity reliably distinguished hazardous from non-hazardous alcohol and cannabis users as well as cannabis users from cannabis non-users. The relationship between reward sensitivity and substance use was partially mediated by outcome expectancies, but not moderated by punishment sensitivity. An exploratory factor analysis demonstrated a high rate of concordance between alcohol and cannabis outcome expectancies. Locus of control of reinforcement was found to be unrelated to alcohol and cannabis use behaviour. There was little commonality in the relationship of sensitivity to punishment, negative outcome expectancies, and affect to alcohol and cannabis use. The second focus of this thesis was to pilot an intervention aimed at reducing alcohol use via the challenging of expectations regarding the rewarding outcomes associated with alcohol use in a group of young adult Australian males. A three session intervention was completed by three males aged between 19 and 31 years. The results demonstrated no reduction in hazardous alcohol use or global positive alcohol outcome expectancies at the completion of the intervention program or at a 3-month follow-up. Furthermore, there was no reduction in expectancies of increased sexual interest for any of the participants at the 3-month follow-up compared to baseline, despite a reduction in these expectancies for one of the three participants at the completion of the intervention. A reduction in monthly drinking levels and in expectancies of increased confidence compared to baseline was noted for two of the three participants at the 3-month follow-up. It was concluded overall that there is consistency between the relationships of reward sensitivity and positive outcome expectancies to alcohol and cannabis use and that outcome expectancies may be a proximal mechanism through which reward sensitivity influences alcohol and cannabis use. It was further concluded that whilst causal inferences regarding the effectiveness of the intervention could not be made, the results provide some evidence for the usefulness of this treatment in changing a proportion of the studied outcomes. This potentially provides an incentive for future controlled design research in larger samples and with alternate substances.

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This diploma thesis deals with fractionation of protein from hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) meal according to their solubility of the hemp varieties - Fedora 17 and Uso 31. The content of nitrogenous substances and protein content in the hemp meal of these studied varieties ranged from 23,6 % (Uso 31) to 31,5 % (Fedora 17) and from 100,1 mg.g-1 (Uso 31) to 130,7 mg.g-1 respectively. The fractionation of hemp protein (Fedora 17, Uso 31) confirmed that the main hemp protein fraction is an albumin fraction, with its relative abundance - 20,5 % of protein. As a next step, the spectra of hemp proteins were determined. The use SDS-PAGE analysis revealed albumin proteins in area of 7,4 53,6 kDa. In the globulin fraction was revealed by SDS-PAGE basic subunits of the major protein edestin in the area 19-21 kDa and acidic subunits in the area 34 kDa.

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar as políticas proibicionistas com relação às drogas, no Brasil, como políticas públicas voltadas à criminalização social. A partir de um histórico sobre o processo de proibição, define-se como tais políticas se deram por iniciativas de reprimir a população negra e pobre, ex-escrava, do início do século XX. Avançando no tempo, a segunda parte do trabalho analisa como a política criminal contemporânea no tratamento às drogas exemplifica uma vontade de Estado criminalizador, sendo fator fundamental na criminalização e no extermínio da juventude pobre, majoritariamente negra, brasileira. O trabalho se utiliza de uma abordagem, principalmente, qualitativa, a partir de uma ótica foucaultiana acerca das relações sociais e de poder, além das análises de criminólogos e sociólogos reconhecidos na temática de estudo no país. / This article objective is to analyze drug’s prohibition policies, in Brazil, as public policies aimed to social criminalization. From a historical view regarding the process of prohibition, it is defined that such policies were initiatives based on the repression of the black, poor and former slave population of the beginning of the 20th century. Advancing in History, the second part of the text brings the analysis of how the contemporary criminal policy concerning drug treatment exemplifies a desirability of a criminalizing State, becoming a fundamental factor in what we can define as the criminalization and the extermination of the poor, mostly black, Brazilian youth population. This work utilizes mainly qualitative approaches, based on Foucault studies on social relations and power. Besides, it brings out the studies of criminologists and social scientists, known for their views on these subjects in Brazil. / Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar las políticas prohibicionistas con relación a las drogas, en Brasil, como políticas públicas dirigidas a la criminalización social. Desde un histórico acerca del proceso de prohibición, se define como estas políticas fueran iniciativas para la represión de la populación negra y pobre, ex esclava, del inicio del siglo XX. Avanzando en el tiempo, la segunda parte del texto analiza como la política criminal contemporánea en el que dice respecto al tratamiento a las drogas ejemplifica una voluntad del Estado criminalizante, siendo factor fundamental en la criminalización y en el exterminio de la juventud pobre, mayoritariamente negra, brasileña. El trabajo utiliza de una abordaje, principalmente cualitativa, a partir de una visión foucaultiana sobre las relaciones sociales y de poder, además de las análisis de sociólogos y criminólogos reconocidos en la temática de estudio.