# Novel Approaches to Opiate Use Reduction

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2024 · $591,853

## Abstract

Research Summary
The United States is facing an opiate epidemic that is spiraling out of control, with a recent CDC report finding
that drug overdoses kill one and a half times more people annually than motor vehicle accidents. This epidemic
has been driven, in part, by the high prevalence of chronic pain conditions. The interconnected problems of
chronic pain and the opiate epidemic are expected to persist and even worsen in the short term. Given these
complex and deadly challenges, patients and medical providers are in desperate need of solutions.
Simultaneously, the wide availability of medical and recreational cannabis has increased dramatically within
the past decade as a result of legalization in 2 states. Data suggest that management of chronic pain is a
driving motivation among medical cannabis users, and recent studies suggest that medical cannabis users
report cannabis to be more effective at managing pain as compared to opiates. As a result, pain patients are
increasingly turning to cannabis as a form of treatment. At the same time, highly respected institutions like the
National Academy of Sciences have published systematic reviews indicating that there is substantial evidence
that cannabis products are actually effective in the treatment of pain. Despite the burgeoning body of evidence
that supports the idea that cannabis may play a helpful role in the chronic pain and opiate epidemic,
prospective studies on the effectiveness and safety profile of cannabis as a treatment for reducing
opiate use are virtually non-existent in the U.S. The proposed research is timely and would address a
glaring gap in the knowledge base in ways that could potentially have an important public health impact. In light
of the current legal climate prohibiting a traditional randomized controlled trial with legal market cannabis
products, we propose a patient-centered and highly innovative adaptive intervention design to examine the
effectiveness of the cannabis products that patients are already using to reduce reliance on opiates. Consistent
with federal laws, we will not be involved in the dispensing of the products and we will not direct the
administration or dosing of the products. Our overarching aim is to compare three broad classes of orally
administered products (i.e., “edibles”): a THC only product, a product that has a 1:1 THC to CBD ratio, and a
CBD only product over the course of 12 weeks in a sample of individuals who want to reduce their opiate use
and plan to use cannabis to do so. The primary clinical outcome is opiate use reduction, and the secondary
outcome is pain control. We will also conduct acute laboratory sessions in our mobile pharmacology lab to
directly examine mechanisms that may mediate the effect of the cannabis products on the clinical outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10772983
- **Project number:** 5R01DA048069-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** KENT E. HUTCHISON
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $591,853
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10772983

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10772983, Novel Approaches to Opiate Use Reduction (5R01DA048069-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10772983. Licensed CC0.

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