# Cognitive Recovery With Cannabis Abstinence Among High School-Aged Adolescents

> **NIH NIH K23** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $200,560

## Abstract

ABSTRACT/PROJECT SUMMARY
Cannabis is the most commonly used addictive substance among U.S. adolescents after alcohol. Adolescence
may be a unique developmental window during which cannabis exerts its most profound impact on cognition,
due to ongoing maturation in brain regions critical to attention and executive functioning (AEF), cognitive
capacities centrally involved in academic success and social functioning. Yet, highly contradictory findings exist
on the degree to which cannabis-associated cognitive deficits persist even in the early days of abstinence, and
whether individual-level factors, importantly Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), moderate these
effects. Addressing this knowledge has a large potential for broad impact, including informing physician advice
to adolescents and their parents, and local, statewide, and national policymaking. This 5-year mentored
patient-oriented research career development award will test the hypotheses that (1) AEF improves slowly
across 4 weeks of abstinence, but that (2) genetic risk for ADHD may blunt the rate of AEF change. We
propose to recruit adolescents with and without regular cannabis use from Boston-area public high schools.
Eligible cannabis users will be randomized to either a contingency management intervention which will
incentivize 4 weeks of cannabis abstinence, or non-contingent monitoring with no abstinence requirement. All
participants (including non-users) will complete cognitive assessments, toxicology testing, self-report
questionnaires and semi-structured mood and substance use interviews at 7 time points during the 4 week
study as well as 1 30-day follow-up visit. Abstinence will be indexed by decreasing levels of cannabis
metabolites in urine. Analyses will examine the (1) differences in AEF after 4 weeks among abstinent cannabis
users, non-abstinent users, and non-users; (2) longitudinal, within-subject change in AEF among abstinent
cannabis users; and (3) association between ADHD polygenic risk and cannabis use, baseline AEF, and AEF
recovery. Each scientific aim corresponds to specific training goals, mapping onto competency in 3 areas: (1)
clinical trial design and implementation, (2) longitudinal analysis, and (3) psychiatric genetics, as well as
training in the responsible conduct of research and career development. Training goals will be implemented
with the expert guidance of Dr. A. Eden Evins (primary mentor), Dr. Jordan Smoller (co-mentor), and the
advisory team consisting of Drs. David Schoenfeld, Alysa Doyle, and Robin Mermelstein. This study, coupled
with completion of the training goals, will effectively propel me towards my long-term goal of an independent
career as a translational clinical scientist aiming to understand the cognitive risk factors and mechanisms of
adolescent cannabis use, and how these and other factors (e.g., genetics, environment, psychopathology)
affect treatment engagement, response and functional outcomes. This will lay the foun...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9859350
- **Project number:** 5K23DA042946-04
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Randi Melissa Schuster
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $200,560
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-02-01 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9859350

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9859350, Cognitive Recovery With Cannabis Abstinence Among High School-Aged Adolescents (5K23DA042946-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9859350. Licensed CC0.

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