marijuana intoxication (Patel et al., 2005). This may help to explain why individuals who smoke marijuana regularly do not appear to process affective stimuli in the same way as those who do not smoke, even when the stimuli are presented at a level which does not result in conscious processing. Findings from these animal studies, which have demonstrated both anxiolytic and anxiogenic responses to cannabinoid agonists depending on the doses administered are somewhat different from human studies of marijuana use, which often report the more positive subjective experiences related to marijuana use, including increased feelings of relaxation and euphoria (Hollister et al., 1986). These seemingly discrepant findings may in fact be related to overall dose administered over time, environmental factors, and socialization, as well as the inherent difference between human subjects’ self-report of mood and affective state as compared to more pure laboratory-based observations, which are possible with animal subjects. Regardless, results from animal studies which have included cannabinoid agonists provide evidence of a relationship between CB-1 receptor activation and affective or emotional state, which may facilitate interpretation of our human study results.
