This study will examine the acute effects of cannabis on various aspects of memory (autobiographical memory, prospective memory, temporal order memory, false memory, source memory, verbal memory, visuospatial memory, working memory). The investigators hypothesize that participants who are randomly assigned to inhale cannabis vapor will perform worse on all memory tests than participants who inhale a placebo product.~Participants will meet the research assistant in The Health & Cognition (THC) lab testing room in the Department of Psychology at WSU. After obtaining written informed consent participants will be asked when they last used cannabis. Participants who report using cannabis that day will be rescheduled and will be reminded that they must abstain from any cannabis use on the day of the testing session and will be rescheduled for another day. Those who report abstinence on the day of the testing session will be asked to complete a commercially available 12-panel urine drug test to ensure they test positive for cannabis/THC but no other illicit drugs. Participants who don't test positive for cannabis/THC or who do test positive for other illicit drugs are not eligible and will not be permitted to complete the study.~Participants who pass the drug test (positive for cannabis/THC and negative for other illicit drugs) will then complete baseline measures of cannabis consumption patterns, level of intoxication, euphoria, anxiety, stress, and verbal intelligence.~Next, the researcher will bring the participant down to a separate secluded room for the vaping session. The researcher will take the Volcano Vaporizer pre-loaded with cannabis containing 20 mg of THC or placebo (the RA and participant will be blind to the product) out of the locked cabinet and position it directly under the fume hood. The researcher will turn the vaporizer on and will wait until it heats up to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the vaporizer is at the correct temperature the research assistant will show the participant how to operate the vaporizer. The RA will then set up a Zoom videoconferencing session on a computer positioned so that she/he can observe and communicate with the participant from a remote lab room during the vapor session. This Zoom session will not be recorded. The fume hood will be turned on and the participant will be instructed to wait to vape the product until the RA joins them on the Zoom call. The RA will exit the vaping room, join the Zoom call from the testing room, then instruct the participant to activate the Volcano Vaporizer and let it continue to run until the bag is completely full of vapor. They will then be instructed to stop the device, remove the bag, position the mouthpiece, and begin inhaling the vapor. They will be instructed to inhale for 5 seconds, hold the vapor in their lungs for 10 seconds and then exhale into the sploofy under the fume hood. They will then be asked to wait for 40 seconds before inhaling again for 5 seconds and holding for 10 seconds. This will be continued until the participant has inhaled 2 bags of vapor. The RA will count the total number of hits/puffs and bags the participant inhales.~After the vape session is complete, the RA will bring the participant back to the testing room to complete a battery of memory tests (completed across two blocks in a counterbalanced order always ending with the temporal order memory test). Before the first block and at the end of each block, participants will re-rate intoxication, euphoria, anxiety, and stress.~Finally, participants will be debriefed. They will then sit and play videogames and/or watch TV or read in the vaping room until it has been a total of 4 hours since their vape session ended, and they report feeling sober.~Cannabis will be obtained from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The specific strain and cannabinoid constituents contained in that strain will vary depending on what is available at the time of request. The investigators will request the highest potency cannabis that they have available at the time. Based on the products that have been available from NIDA, the strain will likely have less than 10% THC. Nevertheless, our plan for dosing considers potency (grams of flower x 1000 x %THC = mg THC) so for a higher potency product a smaller dose (grams of flower) will be required to administer 20mg of THC; while lower potency products will require somewhat larger doses (grams of flower).
This study will examine the acute effects of cannabis on various aspects of memory. Eligible participants will complete a drug screen followed by baseline measures of cannabis consumption patterns, level of intoxication, euphoria, anxiety, stress, and verbal intelligence. Next, participants will be randomly assigned to inhale vapor from cannabis containing 20mg THC or placebo; both cannabis and placebo will be obtained from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Participants will complete a battery of memory tests including tests of prospective, verbal, visuospatial, autobiographical, source, verbal working, visuospatial working, false, and temporal order memory. Memory tests will be completed across two blocks in a counterbalanced order. Ratings of intoxication, euphoria, anxiety, and stress will be obtained three additional times after drug/placebo administration. The investigators hypothesize that participants who are randomly assigned to inhale cannabis vapor will perform worse on all memory tests than participants who inhale the placebo.