This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), provides $450,313 to Trustees of Dartmouth College to conduct research on the impact of psychotherapeutic advertising claims and mental health warning labels on online cannabis purchasing behaviors among individuals with symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. The study aims to investigate whether psychotherapeutic advertising claims increase cannabis...
This $668,110 Project Grant awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279) will fund the development and acceptability testing of a technology-based intervention to reduce cannabis misuse among college students. The project aims to refine an existing intervention that provides information on cannabis products, marketing, laws, and risks to increase young adults' cannabis literacy. The research will involve focus groups with...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (CFDA 93.279 - Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs) to the Cambridge Public Health Commission, doing business as the Cambridge Health Alliance, will provide $177,110 to study the impact of cannabis legalization and commercialization on substance use and mental health outcomes among individuals with psychosis. The research will utilize quasi-experimental difference-in-difference methods to analyze data from the Population...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), provides $1,980,270 to the Regents of the University of Minnesota to conduct an observational study on the neurobehavioral impacts of medical cannabis use. The study aims to assess cognition, neural function, and substance use disorder (SUD) risk in 120 medical cannabis patients in Minnesota compared to 60 non-cannabis using controls. It will...
This four-year, $4.6 million project grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse will fund research at the University of Miami exploring the linkage between cannabis use, route of administration, cannabinoid content, and measures of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in people living with HIV (PWH). Specifically, the principal investigator - an interventional cardiologist and physician scientist focused on HIV and CVD prevention - will collect comprehensive data on 300 PWH ages 18-60 to...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), supports a 5-year, $2,726,432 research study on co-use of cannabis and prescription opioids among emerging adults in medical settings. The study will enroll emerging adults aged 18-25 who either have no history of cannabis use or have used cannabis in the past month and are prescribed an opioid for acute pain management. Participants will be followed...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (CFDA 93.279 - Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs) provides $716,455 to the University of Washington to conduct research on the impact of oral THC consumption during adolescence on adult mouse brain development and behavior. The key objectives of this 5-year research project are to: 1) Determine how long-term adolescent use of THC-gelatin alone or in combination with CBD impacts cannabimimetic responses and natural...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279) provides $489,500 to The Children's Hospital Corporation (doing business as Boston Children's Hospital) to evaluate remote procedures for assessing cannabis use and non-use via oral fluid testing in a community sample of 200 young adults aged 18-30 with past-30-day cannabis use. The project aims to establish the feasibility of remote oral fluid...
This Project Grant award of $443,263 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), aims to characterize the unique effects of recreational cannabis use on sleep in women of childbearing age. The 5-year study, beginning September 2024, will examine the relationship between cannabis use and sleep, investigating the mediating role of stress physiology and reproductive hormones. The research will utilize a within-subject design...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), aims to investigate the impact of prenatal exposure to cannabis on childhood adiposity and cardiometabolic health outcomes. The $234,000 award, with a performance period from August 2024 to July 2026, will support a study using a well-characterized observational cohort in Colorado to measure the levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (D9-THC) and...
THC TITRATION OF HIGH-POTENCY CANNABIS CONCENTRATES: A RANDOMIZED CROSSOVER TRIAL - PROJECT SUMMARY HIGH-POTENCY CANNABIS USE IS ASSOCIATED WITH PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS, SUCH AS CANNABIS USE DISORDER, PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS, AND IMPAIRED COGNITION. LEGAL MARKETS IN THE US AND CANADA ARE GEARED TOWARDS THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF HIGH-TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL (THC) PRODUCTS, INCLUDING CONCENTRATES AS HIGH AS 90-95%. THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY HAS RESISTED REGULATION OF HIGHER-POTENCY PRODUCTS CLAIMING THAT CANNABIS CONSUMERS NATURALLY SELF-TITRATE THEIR USE, BUT THE LIMITED EVIDENCE TO DATE SUGGESTS THAT EVEN THOUGH CONSUMERS MAY USE LESS CANNABIS AS POTENCY RISES, CONSUMING HIGHER POTENCY PRODUCTS STILL LEADS TO GREATER THC CONSUMPTION. WE WILL USE A RANDOMIZED CROSSOVER TRIAL TO EVALUATE THE ABILITY OF 36 REGULAR CANNABIS CONSUMERS (18 FEMALES AND 18 MALES) TO SELF-TITRATE THE THC DOSE WHEN VAPING CONCENTRATES TO ACHIEVE THE DESIRED PSYCHOACTIVE EFFECTS. WE WILL ALSO CHARACTERIZE AND COMPARE THE SUBJECTIVE, COGNITIVE, PHYSIOLOGICAL, AND PHARMACOKINETIC EFFECTS BETWEEN CANNABIS CONCENTRATES OF DIFFERENT POTENCIES (30%, 60%, AND 90% THC). WORKING WITH US SCIENTISTS, THE SETTING OF THIS STUDY WILL BE TORONTO, CANADA, IN THE CONTEXT OF FEDERAL LEGALIZATION OF CANNABIS, UNIQUE ACCESS TO CANNABIS PRODUCTS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE US FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES, AND AN ENCOURAGING REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT. WE WILL TEST COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS THAT ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE THC RANGES AVAILABLE IN THE LEGAL MARKET. AIM 1: TO EVALUATE THE ABILITY OF REGULAR CANNABIS CONSUMERS TO SELF-TITRATE THEIR THC DOSE WHEN VAPING CONCENTRATES OF DIFFERENT POTENCIES. WE WILL COMPARE MARKERS OF TITRATION (BIOLOGICAL: THC BLOOD LEVELS; BEHAVIORAL: INHALATION TOPOGRAPHY; SUBJECTIVE: SELF-REPORTED LEVELS OF INTOXICATION) OVER A RANGE OF POTENCIES FOR A COMPREHENSIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF TITRATION PRACTICE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO PARTIALLY BUT NOT PROPORTIONALLY REDUCE THC INTAKE WITH INCREASE IN THC POTENCY. IN OTHER WORDS, WE ANTICIPATE THAT THE PROPORTIONAL DECREASE IN BLOOD THC LEVELS WILL BE LOWER THAN THE PROPORTIONAL INCREASE IN THC CONCENTRATIONS. AIM 2: TO COMPARE THE COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS, AND ADDICTION LIABILITY OF CONSUMING LOWER VERSUS HIGHER THC POTENCY CONCENTRATES. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS WILL BE LESS PRONOUNCED WITH LOWER-THC CONCENTRATES IN A DOSE-RESPONSE FASHION. WE WILL ALSO EXPLORE DIFFERENCES IN ADDICTION LIABILITY BETWEEN POTENCIES AS HIGHER THC CONCENTRATIONS MAY RESULT IN GREATER DYSPHORIC REACTIONS. THESE ACUTE EFFECTS MAY BE RELATED TO LONG TERM HARMS SUCH AS ACCIDENTS, CVD EVENTS, AND CUD. EXPLORATORY AIM: TO EXPLORE SEX DIFFERENCES IN TITRATION EFFICIENCY, BLOOD THC CONCENTRATIONS, COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS, AND ADDICTION LIABILITY. WE PROPOSE TO ANALYZE SEX DIFFERENCES IN OUR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES (E.G., WHETHER FEMALES WILL BE ABLE TO TITRATE MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN MALES). THIS EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE WILL PROVIDE DATA ON THE POTENTIAL ACUTE HARMS RELATED TO CONCENTRATES AND INFORM POLICY DECISIONS ON THE NEED TO DECREASE ACCESS AND/OR PREVENT THEIR INITIATION AND IMPLEMENT INFORMATION AND EDUCATION CAMPAIGNS TO INCREASE AWARENESS ON THE RISKS OF USING THEM.