The Cognitive Trade-Offs of Cannabis and ADHD with Carrie Cuttler, PhD

Dr. Carrie Cuttler is currently a Co-Director of the Cannabis Research Center (CRC) at Washington State University Center (WSU). She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at WSU. Carrie directs research in The Health and Cognition (THC) lab that focuses on examining both the beneficial and detrimental effects of cannabis and cannabinoids.

Her recent work focuses on examining the therapeutic potential of cannabigerol (CBG), as well as effects of chronic cannabis use and acute cannabis intoxication on cognition (e.g., memory, creativity, executive functioning), mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, autism, OCD, PTSD, ADHD), physical health (e.g., pain, sleep) and stress.

At CannMed 26, Carrie presented a poster titled “Attention Please! Effects of Chronic and Acute Cannabis Use on Cognition and Symptoms of ADHD”

During our conversation, we discuss:

Why people with ADHD are more likely to use cannabis and what they report it helps with

The details of Carrie’s study which compared the acute effects of cannabis on regualr users with and without ADHD as well as non-users with and without ADHD

How participants with ADHD showed reduced impulsivity on objective cognitive tests when under the influence of cannabis, not just self-report

Why those same participants also showed worse performance on five other cognitive measures at the same time

What Carrie’s next study looks like, including her interest in testing CBG (a non-intoxicating cannabinoid) for ADHD

The key limitations of the study and takeawys for clinicians and patients

Thanks to This Episode’s Sponsor: The Society of Cannabis Clinicians

The Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SCC) is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to advancing evidence-based education, research, and clinical practice in medical cannabis.