Related Announcements

PA-20-185: NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
PA-20-183: NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Required)
PA-20-200:NIH Small Research Grant Program (Parent R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
PA-20-195: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-194: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Required)
PA-20-272: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp - Clinical Trial Optional)
PA-20-184: NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)

PA-20-196: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)

Reissue of NOT-DA-19-065 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Public Health Research on Cannabis

Issued by

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Purpose

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is issuing this notice to encourage grant applications on the effects of changing cannabis laws and policies in the US and globally on public health.

Background

Policies around of cannabis products (including whole plant cannabis and cannabis constituent compounds) in the United States (and globally) continue to evolve, and far outpace the knowledge needed to determine the public health impacts of these changes. Growing numbers of states have loosened restrictions on cannabis, including those on sales and use, by passing medical cannabis laws or by making cannabis legal for adult recreational use, and in increasing numbers, states have done both. Recognizing this widening research gap, in 2018 NIDA sought input from a National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (NACDA) Workgroup to identify cannabis policy research areas with the greatest urgency and potential for impact, and many of these questions and concerns remain. The workgroup report can be found here: https://www.drugabuse.gov/sites/default/files/nacda_cannabis_policy_research_workgroup_report_feb_2018.pdf

Examples of research areas highlighted in the report that are of interest to NIDA are included below.

Research Objectives

Areas of programmatic interest to NIDA include:

• Develop standards for measuring cannabis and cannabis constituents (including THC, CBD, other cannabinoids, and terpenes) dose, intoxication, and/or impairment.
• Enhance existing epidemiology research to study trends for cannabis product use and cannabis use disorder (CUD); including new products (e.g. delta-8 THC products), patterns of use, and reasons for use in different populations.
• Characterize the composition/potency, pattern of use, and methods of administration of cannabis products, including whole-plant cannabis, cannabis extracts/concentrates, and varying cannabis constituents (e.g. cannabinoids or terpenes), as well as how those factors impact physical and mental health.
• Determine the physical and mental health antecedents of cannabis use, as well as outcomes of use.
• Explore the impact of polysubstance use on health outcomes, including interactions (substitution/complementation) of cannabis product use with alcohol, tobacco, and prescription and nonprescription opioids;
• Examine reasons for initiation and continued use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes.
• Investigate the effects of different patterns of cannabis use on brain development, educational attainment, and transition to work and adult roles.
• Identify the effects of maternal cannabis consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• Develop effective roadside tests for cannabis impairment that can be practically deployed by law enforcement.
• Investigate how cannabis industry practices, including research on marketing, taxes, and prices, impact use and health outcomes (e.g. how different price points impact consumption patterns across different levels of use).
• Determine the impact of federal, state, and local cannabis policies and their implementation on use and health outcomes.
• Explore the heterogeneity of regulatory schemes (e.g. models for retail distribution of cannabis products) to understand which combinations or components minimize harm to public health.

Application and Submission Information:

For applications where THC is the focus of research, applicants are required to measure and report results using a standard THC unit in all applicable human subjects research. A standard THC unit is defined as any formulation of cannabis plant material or extract that contains 5 milligrams of THC. This requirement will apply to applications proposing research on cannabis or its main psychotropic constituent THC (see NOT-DA-21-049).

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after June 5, 2022 and subsequent receipt dates through May 5, 2025.

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) or any reissues of these announcement through the expiration date of this notice.

• PA-20-185: NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-183: NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Required)
• PA-20-200:NIH Small Research Grant Program (Parent R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-195: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-194: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Required)
• PA-20-272: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp - Clinical Trial Optional)
• PA-20-184: NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)

• PA-20-196: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the funding opportunity announcement used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-DA-22-003 (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Inquiries

Marsha Lopez, PhD
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Telephone: (301) 402-1846
Email: [email protected]

Heather Kimmel, PhD
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Telephone: (301) 443-6504
Email: [email protected]