# Quantifying data-driven metrics of meaningful cannabis reduction

> **NIH NIH R21** · MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA · 2021 · $225,750

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Rates of cannabis use among adults in the United States are increasing and the perception of harm
associated with cannabis use continues to decline. As legislation shifts towards widespread legal cannabis
access, there is the potential to see an even greater increase in use rates, increased prevalence of regular use,
and the development of cannabis use disorder (CUD). While cannabis cessation remains an important milestone
for many, there may be public health benefit to exploring harm reduction approaches to cannabis use. Harm
reduction strategies have strong empirical support for alcohol and opioids, but harm reduction work for cannabis
is still in its infancy. For example, it is currently unknown how best to implement harm reduction approaches for
cannabis and, critically, how to detect and define reductions in cannabis use to determine if there are benefits
associated with reduction. Given that there is no established definition of cannabis reduction in the literature, this
R21 proposal aims to address this gap in the literature by conducting a secondary analysis of six cannabis
treatment trials conducted within our research group (five completed, one currently enrolling; N=873 expected
at the earliest grant start date; N=820 currently enrolled; ages 13-65; 28% female; 26% African American; 12%
Hispanic/Latinx). We propose to use these existing, de-identified data to characterize the decay in urinary
cannabinoids coinciding with significant reductions in self-reported cannabis use. By characterizing the average
decay and prediction intervals of urinary cannabinoids from this comprehensive data set, we will have data-
driven metrics to operationally define and biologically verify cannabis reduction in future harm reduction and
treatment studies. Specifically, the aims of this proposal are to: 1) determine whether 50% or greater decreases
in weekly self-reported cannabis use correlate with a corresponding decrease in creatinine-normalized urinary
cannabinoids following five weeks of use reduction; and 2) characterize the decay in weekly creatinine-
normalized urinary cannabinoids in participants who reduce cannabis use by at least 50% by week five of
treatment. Harm reduction strategies for cannabis use may be a beneficial alternative to cessation for some
regular users, but important cannabis harm reduction questions cannot be adequately and systemically
answered without rigorous and data-driven metrics to define and detect reductions in use. Outcomes from this
study have the potential to impact future work on CUD treatment by promoting a shift towards alternative, non-
abstinence outcomes of treatment success and improving the rigor of cannabis harm reduction work by providing
data-driven reduction metrics. Cannabis use and its consequences represent an area of public health priority
and there is a need to explore strategies to reduce the harmful impact of cannabis in regular users.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10108646
- **Project number:** 1R21DA052661-01
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
- **Principal Investigator:** Nathaniel Lee Baker
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $225,750
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10108646

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10108646, Quantifying data-driven metrics of meaningful cannabis reduction (1R21DA052661-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10108646. Licensed CC0.

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