Impact of co-administration of oxycodone and smoked cannabis on analgesia and abuse liability.
Cannabinoids combined with opioids produce synergistic antinociceptive effects, decreasing the lowest effective antinociceptive opioid dose (i.e., opioid-sparing effects) in laboratory animals. Although pain patients report greater analgesia when cannabis is used with opioids, no placebo-controlled studies have assessed the direct effects of opioids combined with cannabis in humans or the impact of the combination on abuse liability. This double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study determined if cannabis enhances the analgesic effects of low dose oxycodone using a validated experimental model of pain and its effects on abuse liability. Healthy cannabis smokers (N 18) were administered oxycodone (0, 2.5, and 5.0 mg, PO) with smoked cannabis (0.0, 5.6% Δ