Bradley T. Conner

Rationale: Existing research on biological markers of intoxication while under the influence of cannabis is expansive. We aimed to characterize these parameters across different commercially available products, such as cannabis edibles with both conventional and advanced delivery systems (i.e., fast-acting). Therefore, we sought to examine changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature throughout the administration and intoxication associated with the consumption of a fast-acting cannabis edible, a standard cannabis edible, and a placebo edible. Objectives: We hypothesized that these biological markers would be significantly different throughout the time course of intoxication for the fast-acting and standard edible compared to the placebo edible. Methods: 20 participants completed all 3 conditions of the within-subjects design. Results: Post ingestion of the cannabis edibles, changes in blood pressure over time for the standard edible and the fast-acting edible indicated similar effects on blood pressure. Additionally, significant changes in heart rate were observed in both the standard edible condition and the fast-acting edible condition. We observed similar pharmacodynamic effects of cannabis consumption across both standard- and fast-acting edibles, with small but significant differences in blood pressure and heart rate across fast-acting and standard edibles. Heart rate was higher for participants at the onset of and across all conditions, including the placebo, and interestingly decreased over the course of the session. There were no significant differences in temperature across time or condition. Conclusions: These results provide insight to the biological effects of cannabis edibles, furthering our knowledge of physiological responses to cannabis edible products.

IntroductionTo date, more than one million lives have been lost to preventable opioid-related overdoses in the United States. The naloxone care cascade provides a framework for understanding the continuum of behaviors required for bystanders to become - and remain - prepared to respond to an opioid overdose emergency. Health vending machines (HVMs) represent a promising implementation strategy for facilitating initial engagement and ongoing re-engagement across the naloxone care cascade. This study characterizes engagement with the naloxone care cascade at enrollment and examines subsequent engagement and re-engagement with naloxone through an HVM.MethodWe recruited community members (n=200) receiving services at a local community mental health access center between September 2024 and May 2025. The survey assessed sociodemographic characteristics, justice involvement, substance use history, awareness of community naloxone resources, overdose history, witnessing and responding to overdoses, and elective naloxone uptake. Using a mixed-methods approach, quantitative analyses examined associations between demographic and descriptive variables and participation in the naloxone care cascade, while qualitative analyses explored engagement and re-engagement in the cascade.ResultsDuring the study period, 189 naloxone kits were dispensed from the HVM by study participants. Additionally, χ2 tests revealed significant associations between prior receipt, current possession, and elective uptake of naloxone and several demographic and descriptive variables (p’s < 0.05). The qualitative analyses revealed that past experiences witnessing opioid-related overdoses motivated participants to engage with the naloxone cascade, that HVM strengthened the naloxone cascade by facilitating naloxone accessibility, affordability, and needs-based distribution, and that the HVM expanded the naloxone cascade through participant-driven secondary distribution across drug-using peer networks.DiscussionQuantitative and qualitative findings from this study indicated that HVMs strengthen the naloxone cascade by supporting sustained overdose preparedness through low-barrier naloxone replenishment, ongoing engagement, and secondary distribution within high-risk social networks. Beyond expanding access to naloxone, HVMs operationalize core harm reduction principles by placing lifesaving resources directly into the hands of people with lived and living experience of drug use, recognizing that they are uniquely positioned to assess overdose risk, respond to emergencies, and protect others within their communities.

The goal of this study was to empirically examine the role of resilience on difficulties with emotion regulation in the experience of trauma. We aimed to investigate whether trait resilience can act as a moderator on the direct relation between trauma and emotion regulation. Further, we were interested in understanding whether trait resilience acts as a buffer against difficulties with emotion regulation and maladaptive behaviors. We used data from a sample of undergraduate students ( n = 3,181) to conduct multiple linear regressions estimating the relations between trauma and emotion regulation and how resilience might moderate this relation. Our analyses unexpectedly found a lack of a moderating effect of resilience on emotion regulation and trauma, highlighting a gap in current research. Analyses confirmed a significant positive relation between trauma and difficulties in emotion regulation and a significant negative relation between resilience and difficulties with emotion regulation. Interestingly, our hypotheses failed to support a significant moderating effect of resilience on the relation between trauma and difficulties with emotion regulation. More specifically, the trauma and resilience interaction term was not statistically significant. Results suggest that the ability to positively modulate environmental and internal emotional responses are limited when levels of resilience are low. Importantly, these findings indicate resilience does not buffer against traumatic experiences and that it positively predicts a lack of emotional awareness in the wake of trauma, indicating a need for further research.

The Resilience Protective Factors Checklist (RPFC) is a strengths-based oriented clinical questionnaire that assists in the identification of protective factors that have been empirically linked to resilience and positive outcomes. This study utilized a Confirmatory Factor Analysis to assist in the identification of additional protective factors linked to resilience, which informed the creation of the Resilience Protective Factors Checklist – Second Edition (RPFC-2). CFA results validated the structure of the RPFC-2 (CFI = .83, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .06), with small discrepancies between the hypothesized model and the model from our sample data. Participants were undergraduate college students ( n = 652). The results revealed a total of 34 protective factors that represent three interrelated areas of protection—Individual, Family, and Community streng ths and resources. The results are further broken down into eleven areas of protection that can be targeted in human services. An important goal of the present study was to identify and strengthen the factors that assist people in leading resilient, well-adjusted lives.

Operant conditioning and social learning theories suggest that positive cannabis use–related outcomes are a primary contributor to maintained use and risk for dependence. However, currently there does not exist a reliable, validated measure of positive cannabis-related outcomes. This study sought to develop and psychometrically evaluate the Positive Outcomes of Cannabis Use Scale (POCUS). We collected three samples, college students ( N = 883), community adults ( N = 214), and college students ( N = 615), of predominantly White adults in the United States who completed an online survey. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses evaluated scale structure and identified four factors: social enhancement, mood enhancement, cognitive enhancement, and sexual enhancement. Positive outcomes were positively associated with recent use, controlling for expectancies and negative outcomes. Positive outcomes were also differentiated from positive expectancies and more influential in predicting typical use frequency. Findings indicate that the POCUS is psychometrically sound and clinically useful for measuring positive cannabis use–related outcomes among predominantly White adults in the United States.

Objective: Perseverative cognitive processes, such as rumination, may indirectly influence effects of personality traits on cannabis use and related problems. Understanding relations among personality, rumination, and cannabis use motives may lead to better understanding of problematic cannabis use. The present study examined personality traits’ influence on negative cannabis-related consequences via rumination and cannabis use coping motives. Methods: We tested a sequential path model across two independent samples such that the model was tested in one sample and replicated in the second sample. Participants were U.S. undergraduate students from multiple universities who reported using cannabis at least once in the prior thirty days. Results: Results partially supported hypotheses such negative urgency and distress tolerance were indirectly related to negative cannabis-related consequences via rumination and coping motives. Specifically, higher negative urgency and lower distress tolerance were related to higher rumination. Higher rumination was related to higher coping motives; which in turn was related to more negative cannabis-related consequences. Results indicate that rumination is a risk factor belying associations between personality and cannabis use to cope and negative consequences of use. Conclusions: Implementing techniques that attenuate rumination for individuals high in negative urgency or low in distress tolerance may reduce or prevent problematic cannabis and unintended outcomes.