HIPAA Compliant
ISO 27001 CertifiedActively Recruiting
Led by Massachusetts General Hospital · Updated on 2026-03-03
200
Participants Needed
1
Research Sites
N/A
Total Duration
Researchers are studying adolescents aged 12 to 18 who use cannabis daily or nearly daily and have current depression symptoms. The study aims to understand how acute cannabis use and withdrawal affect depression and suicidal thoughts, focusing on mood, substance use patterns, and suicidal ideation. The goal is to develop accessible and personalized interventions to reduce depression and suicide risk in this population. The study involves 200 participants who will take part in a 10-week program divided into three phases. The first phase is a 2-week baseline period where participants use cannabis as usual while reporting mood and use patterns through smartphone monitoring. After this, participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups for eight weeks one group will abstain from cannabis with incentives for staying abstinent, and the other will continue their usual cannabis use without restrictions. Both groups complete smartphone assessments during weeks 1 and 8 of this phase. Participants will attend 12 visits over approximately 10 weeks for urine tests to verify cannabis use or abstinence, and complete questionnaires and interviews about substance use, cravings, withdrawal symptoms, mood, and suicidal thoughts. The study measures cannabis use, motivation to use cannabis for mood improvement, mood depletion, cognitive effects, activation levels, passive suicidal thoughts, suicidal urges, and urges for self-injury at various time points to monitor changes throughout the study.
CONDITIONS
Cannabis, Linked Emotions, and Adolescent Risk Study
R
Randi M Schuster, PhD
J
Julia Jashinski, MSW
Explore thousands of other clinical trials that might be a better match.
Sign up to get personalized trial recommendations delivered to your inbox.
Already have an account? Log in here
Massachusetts General Hospital
Lead Sponsor
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Collaborating Sponsor
This table compares participation in this trial with other options available for this condition. The information is drawn from published research and the trial’s study details and is provided for educational purposes only.
| Factors | Incentivized Cannabis Abstinence (CB-Abst) | Cannabis Monitoring (CB-Mon) |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A behavioral intervention providing escalating incentives for abstaining from cannabis, verified through urinalysis, over eight weeks. | A structured monitoring program in which cannabis use and related moods are tracked, but no abstinence incentives are offered. |
| Role in the trial | Tests whether incentivized cannabis abstinence reduces depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and negative cognitive or mood outcomes. | Serves as a comparator to assess effects of ongoing cannabis use and monitoring on depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. |
| Primary use | Investigating whether financial incentives for cannabis abstinence can affect mood, suicidal ideation, and self-injury urges in adolescents with regular use and depressive symptoms. | Evaluating changes in mood and suicidal thoughts when regular cannabis use continues under monitoring but without incentives. |
| How it is given or performed | Participants attend weekly visits for urinalysis, and receive escalating financial incentives for confirmed abstinence over eight weeks. | Participants attend monitoring visits, provide cannabis use data, and complete mood/self-injury assessments, but do not receive abstinence-related rewards. |
| Evidence status | No published results yet; this approach is currently under investigation for safety and efficacy in adolescents. | Outcomes for monitored cannabis use in this patient group have not yet been published; this arm's results are pending completion. |
| Important limitations | As a behavioral program targeting abstinence through incentives, its effectiveness and acceptability in real-world clinical practice remain unproven. Access to resources or implementation may differ outside structured research settings. | Monitoring without intervention may not reflect routine clinical care and may not be as effective in changing behavior or improving depressive symptoms compared to established treatments. |
Disclaimer: This comparison is created with the help of artificial intelligence(AI) and may contain errors or missing information. It is not medical advice and does not mean one option is better or safer than another. Clinical trials are still being studied, and joining a trial is your choice. Please consult your healthcare professional before making any decisions.
You may qualify if you...
You will not qualify if you...
Duration - 2 to 4 weeks
Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial.
12 study visits across approximately 10 weeks including urine sample collections and brief questionnaires
Duration - 2 weeks
Participants complete a 2-week baseline phase involving real-time, ambulatory smartphone monitoring (ecological momentary assessment; EMA) while using cannabis as usual to track mood and suicidal ideation.
Continuous smartphone monitoring during the 2 weeks
Duration - 8 weeks
Participants are randomized to either an 8-week cannabis abstinence condition with contingency management incentives or a monitoring condition with no abstinence requirement, to study the effects of cannabis withdrawal and abstinence on mood and suicidal ideation.
EMA during weeks 1 and 8 of this phase; urine samples collected for abstinence verification in the abstinence group
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Masking
SINGLE
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Model
PARALLEL
Primary Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Number of Arms
3
Have more questions? Get in touch with our team for quick support
Isabella Feibus, Marta Borrego Mahiques, Meghan Costello...
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41411314/Massachusetts General Hospital
Lead Sponsor
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Collaborating Sponsor
