A double-blind randomized controlled trial of N-acetylcysteine in cannabis-dependent adolescents.

What this study found

NAC increased the likelihood of abstinence during treatment and was generally well tolerated. During treatment, negative weekly urine cannabinoid tests were more frequent with NAC than placebo, 190/464 (40.9%) vs 126/464 (27.2%), odds ratio 2.4, 95% CI 1.1-5.2, p=0.029. End-of-treatment abstinence showed a similar but not statistically definitive pattern at 2 weeks, 36.2% vs 20.7% (OR 2.32, 95% CI 0.99-5.43, p=0.054), and 4 weeks, 27.6% vs 15.5% (OR 2.14, 95% CI 0.85-5.42, p=0.108). Other outcomes were not significant, including time to first negative urine test and reduction in days using…

Study & population

Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in treatment-seeking cannabis-dependent adolescents and young adults recruited from a single university-based research clinic.

Intervention

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was given as 1200 mg oral capsules twice daily for 8 weeks.

Key limitation

The trial was relatively small, single-site, and short in duration, which limits precision and generalizability.

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