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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 Jul 13;14(1):16163.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-66879-0.

Acute effects of cannabigerol on anxiety, stress, and mood: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, field trial

Carrie Cuttler  1 , Amanda Stueber  2 , Ziva D Cooper  3 , Ethan Russo  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Acute effects of cannabigerol on anxiety, stress, and mood: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, field trial

Carrie Cuttler et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Cannabigerol (CBG) is a phytocannabinoid increasing in popularity, with preclinical research indicating it has anxiolytic and antidepressant effects. However, there are no published clinical trials to corroborate these findings in humans. The primary objective of this study was to examine acute effects of CBG on anxiety, stress, and mood. Secondary objectives were to examine whether CBG produces subjective drug effects or motor and cognitive impairments. A double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over field trial was conducted with 34 healthy adult participants. Participants completed two sessions (with a one-week washout period) via Zoom. In each, they provided ratings of anxiety, stress, mood, and subjective drug effects prior to double-blind administration of 20 mg hemp-derived CBG or placebo tincture (T0). These ratings were collected again after participants ingested the product and completed an online survey (T1), the Trier Social Stress Test (T2), a verbal memory test and the DRUID impairment app (T3). Relative to placebo, there was a significant main effect of CBG on overall reductions in anxiety as well as reductions in stress at T1. CBG also enhanced verbal memory relative to placebo. There was no evidence of subjective drug effects or impairment. CBG may represent a novel option to reduce stress and anxiety in healthy adults.

Keywords: Anxiety; Cannabigerol; Impairment; Intoxication; Memory; Stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Outside of this work, ZDC reports receiving study drug from Canopy Growth Corp and True Terpenes, and study-related materials from Storz & Bickel. She served a scientific consultant for Canopy Growth Corporation in 2021 and on the scientific advisory board for FSD Pharma in 2020. ZDC’s research is funded by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, California Department of Cannabis Control, Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, and the California Highway Patrol. ER is founder and CEO of CReDO science which formulates and works with CBG. ZDC and ER had no role in the analyses or interpretation of the findings. Dr. Cuttler reports receiving study-related materials from Storz & Bickel as well as research funds from Huxley Health and Healer. Amanda Stueber declares no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of procedure for each testing session.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Consort flow diagram. Consort flow diagram showing the total number of people assessed for eligibility, randomized, tested, and analyzed with reasons for exclusions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Changes in subjective state ratings following drug administration. Lines represent mean changes in subjective ratings of anxiety (A), stress (B), mood (C), and STAI state anxiety scores (D) from baseline (T0) to T1, T2, and T3. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Intoxication, drug effect, and drug liking ratings following drug administration. Lines represent mean self-reported intoxication (A), drug effect (B), drug liking (C) ratings following drug/placebo administration. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Subjective drug effect ratings following drug administration. Lines represent self-reported changes (from T0) in dry eyes (D), dry mouth (E), sleepiness (F), appetite (G), and heart palpitations (H) following drug administration. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effects of CBG vs placebo memory. Lines represent mean number of words recalled in Trial 1, Trial 2, Trial 3, List B, and the Short Delay recall trial of the CVLT-II. Error bars show standard errors of the mean.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effects of CBG vs placebo on impairment. Bars represent mean global impairment scores at Baseline (T0), following ingesting of CBG and Placebo. Circles represent individual scores in each condition. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean. The dashed line represents a score of 57 which indicates significant impairment.
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