Marijuana simulations

Liguori, A., Gatto, C.P., and Robinson, J.H., Effects of marijuana on equilibrium, psychomotor performance, and simulated driving, Behav. Pharmacol., 9, 599, 1998. 

Automobile and truck simulators have also been used in randomized studies to demonstrate the impairing effects of various doses of alcohol.78-80 Similar studies have been conducted using flight simulators.81-85 In addition, both types of simulators have been used to assess the effects of marijuana, nicotine, and other sedative medications.86-88 Simulations have also been used to examine other environmental perturbations, including sleep deprivation and elevated carbon dioxide levels.89,90... 

Cannabis and THC are known in certain circumstances to induce anxiety or panic, and Zuardi and colleagues (1982) reported that CBD antagonises anxiogenic effects of THC along with some other marijuana-like effects in healthy volunteers. At a dose of 300 mg orally it reduced anxiety in comparison with placebo in a simulated public speaking task (Zuardi et al. 1993). CBD was also found to behave like an atypical antipsychotic in the apomorphine-induced stereotypy model in rodents (Zuardi et al. 1991). In a report of a single case, CBD (in doses up to 1500 mg/day) was found to improve psychotic symptoms without toxic effects in a psychotic patient who had experienced intolerable unwanted effects with haloperidol (Zuardi et al. 1995). 

Liguori A, Gatto CP, Jarrett DB. Separate and combined effects of marijuana and alcohol on mood, equilibrium and simulated driving. Psychopharmacology (Bed) (2002) 163, 399-405. 

Several simulator and on road studies have compared driving performance of cannabis-dosed drivers with that of drivers under the influence of either placebo or alcohol. Early studies in driving simulators (in the 1970 s) failed to show significant effects of marijuana on vehicle control (e.g., Crancer, Dille, Delay, Wallade and Haykin, 1969). However, this could have been due to the unrealistic car dynamics in early non-interactive simulators (Smiley, 1999). Later studies, with either simulated or actual driving demonstrated few significant impairments... 

Smiley, A. (1999). Marijuana On Road and Driving Simulator Studies. In The Health Effects of Cannabis (H. Kalant, W. A. Corrgall, W. Hall and R. G. Smart, eds.). Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada. 

Smiley, A. M., H. Moskowitz and K. Zeidman (1981). Driving simulator studies of marijuana alone and in combination with alcohol. In Proceedings of the 25th Conference of the American Association for Automotive Medicine, pp. 107-116. 

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