Understanding cannabis use and cannabis use disorder in adults with chronic pain
Official title: Cannabis Use for Chronic Pain: Advancing Knowledge and Cannabis Use Disorder Assessment with a Mixed Methods Approach
Funded at Dartmouth College · NIH-11225957 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project is creating clearer ways to tell when adult cannabis use for chronic pain is helpful versus when it becomes a cannabis use disorder.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Dartmouth College NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Hanover, United States) |
| Project start | September 30, 2020 |
| Project end | January 31, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $780,228 |
| NIH project number | 2R01DA050032-06 |
| Project ID | NIH-11225957 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults age 21 and older who use cannabis for chronic pain, whether medically authorized or not, are the most suitable candidates for this work.
✕Less likely to help
People under 21, those who do not use cannabis for pain, or those seeking immediate changes in pain treatment likely will not benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
If you take part, researchers will ask adults about how and why they use cannabis for pain, including efforts to get medical authorization, dosing, and supervision. They will use interviews and online surveys and build on a new Cannabis Exposure Index (CEI) to measure actual use. The team will adapt a framework used for prescription opioids that separates therapeutic use from problematic use to see how it fits cannabis. Findings will be used to refine diagnostic questions and tools so clinicians can better understand patients' cannabis use.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help clinicians and patients distinguish therapeutic cannabis use from problematic use and guide safer cannabis practices for pain.
How similar studies have gone: The team previously developed the Cannabis Exposure Index and used opioid-based diagnostic models with good validity, but applying a therapeutic-use framework specifically to cannabis is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Dartmouth College
Hanover, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Borodovsky, Jacob T — Dartmouth College
- Study coordinator: Borodovsky, Jacob T
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.