Targeted Condition: Substance use disorders/misuse

High potency cannabis policy legislative report

Explore and suggest policy solutions in response to the public health challenges of high tetrahydrocannabinol potency cannabis. ADAI will host stakeholder sessions to gain perspectives, seek common ground, evaluate, and assess potential policy solutions culminating in a final recommendation report.

Microglia and opioid withdrawal: mechanisms of negative reinforcement

Extensive opioid use and repeated abstinence increases the likelihood of severe withdrawal and contributes to the risk of relapse. Previously we found that microglia, the innate immune cells in the brain, have dramatic changes in gene expression and signaling during opioid tolerance and withdrawal. We propose to use fentanyl and a recently developed transgenic mice to investigate whether repeated cycles of tolerance and withdrawal aggravate changes in microglial function and whether purinergic receptors in microglial contribute to opioid withdrawal. We will study the microstructure and motility of microglia using time- lapse microscopy and measure real-time changes in cyclic and calcium dynamics. The goal of the project is to identify new targets to treat opioid withdrawal and relapse.

Understanding practical alcohol measures in primary care to prepare for measurement-based care

Standardized measurements of unhealthy drinking and alcohol use disorder symptoms are integral to addressing alcohol problems. However, surprisingly little is known about how measures of alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder symptoms function when they are used in real-world routine care settings and documented in electronic health records (EHRs).

We propose to leverage EHRs to understand how measures of alcohol consumption and DSM-5 alcohol use disorder symptoms function in the context of real-world routine care, including by understanding how these measures function psychometrically overall and across demographic groups (age, sex, race, and ethnicity) and how they are associated with subsequent health outcomes obtained from EHRs.

Improving opioid use disorder treatment using contingency management via mHealth

Deaths related to the opioid overdose epidemic remain at an all-time high across the country despite significant efforts to reduce them. There is a pressing need to support medication treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) to help people stay in treatment and reduce the risk of overdose death and other serious health consequences of untreated addiction. Smartphone-based apps can facilitate the delivery of an evidence-based approach called contingency management that incentivizes use of medications for OUD, reduces use of non-prescribed opioids and improves retention in OUD treatment.

This study will leverage a commercially available smartphone app that can bring this much-needed behavioral support to patients receiving OUD treatment in a primary care clinic and in a specialty OUD treatment clinic. The approach offers a potentially non-labor intensive, cost-effective and highly scalable means of delivering OUD care.

Developing measurement-based care tools for addiction treatment clinics

This research develops and tests digital technology to help clinicians and patients systematically measure and monitor clinical progress during addiction treatment. The technology is being developed based on end-user input and user-centered design methods and will be pilot tested as an add-on to real-world care in an addiction treatment clinic.

Decision During Drinking (D3 Study)

This multiphase project aims to 1) understand more about cues that young adults experience that influence their decisions while drinking that may lead to unwanted outcomes or experiences; and 2) use human center design and young adult feedback to develop and assess the feasibility of an electronic program or resources to focused on reducing these outcome from drinking.