Clinically, OXT administration has shown some efficacy in attenuating craving and withdrawal-related symptoms across alcohol and multiple drugs of abuse. In the context of stress, a single dose of IN OXT was shown to reduce stress-induced craving and anxiety in cannabis-dependent individuals (McRae-Clark et al., 2013). However, Reed and colleagues demonstrated that IN OXT produced an increase in subjective stress compared to placebo in female cannabis users, whereas IN OXT produced a small (but non-significant) decrease in subjective stress in males (Reed et al., 2019). The authors found no differences in stress-related cannabis craving, though female cannabis users demonstrated a longer latency to self-administer and used less cannabis overall compared to males (Reed et al., 2019). In a study by Lee et al. (2014) a single dose of IN OXT reduced the desire to use drug in cocaine-dependent subjects, though OXT treatment had no effect on cue-induced cocaine craving (Lee et al., 2014). In contrast, Hansson et al., (2018) showed that intranasal OXT reduced cue reactivity in male heavy drinkers in the insula, prefrontal and limbic regions. These results were
