While cannabis withdrawal may not include some of the serious medical problems observed with alcohol and opioid withdrawal, it is likely that the symptoms associated with cannabis withdrawal (e.g. negative affect, appetite and sleep disturbance) contribute to the development and intractability of cannabis dependence. In this sense, cannabis withdrawal may be analogous to other, better-understood withdrawal syndromes (e.g. tobacco withdrawal, alcohol withdrawal) that have been the target of intervention efforts. Furthermore, cannabis withdrawal has been described increasingly in terms of the physiological sequelae that coincide with this syndrome, including alterations in dopamine neurotransmission [34], as well as alterations in other systems [35].
