Grant: Operating Grant

Leading addiction researchers from Canada and the United States are embarking on a multi-year, collaborative project to develop a new therapy for nicotine addiction. The research team includes six scientists led by Dr. Bernard Le Foll, Clinician-Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. More than 3 million deaths per year worldwide are attributable to smoking, and the use of tobacco is on the rise in developing countries. Consequently, tobacco use is one of the few causes of mortality that is increasing, with deaths projected to reach 10 million annually in 30-40 years. Nicotine, a component of tobacco smoke, is the cause of tobacco dependence. Unfortunately, medications currently available help only a minority of patients stop smoking. Previous research has implicated the cannabinoid CB1 receptors located in the brain in nicotine addiction. Drugs acting on the cannabinoid CB1 receptors have been shown to be effective to help smokers quit smoking, but had some psychiatric side effects. Here, a novel class of cannabinoid CB1 drugs that appear to not create those psychiatric side effects will be evaluated for their ability to block motivation for nicotine and nicotine reward using various animal models. This project with direct relevance for health may allow for the development of new therapies for smokers, which is a major cause of preventable deaths in Canada and in the world.