mild, moderate or severe diagnosis); (ii) the DSM-IV criterion of legal problems has been eliminated from the diagnostic repertoire; and (iii) a new criterion for the DSM-5, craving (a long held substance dependence criterion in the International Classification of Disease, ICD) has been added. More specifically for cannabis, withdrawal is now a criterion. A wealth of psychometric evaluations in epidemiological (Agrawal et al., 2008; Compton et al., 2009; Gillespie et al., 2005; Hartman et al., 2008; Hasin et al., 2012, 2008; Langenbucher et al., 2004; Lynskey and Agrawal, 2007; Martin et al., 2006; Piontek et al., 2011; Wu et al., 2009, 2012) and clinical samples (Budney, 2006; Budney and Hughes, 2006) support these recommendations; however, the impact of these revisions on the prevalence of cannabis use disorders under the new DSM-5 classification remains largely unexplored. A recent study of Australian adults found a modest reduction in the rate of cannabis use disorder with the transition from DSM-IV to DSM-5 (Mewton et al., 2013), while another study of individuals with substance use disorders noted a modest increase of 4% (Peer et al., 2013).
