Project Summary/Abstract
This project will directly advance the NIDA strategic objectives to “enhance knowledge of the real-
world landscape of drug use.” The training activities of this project will include: 1. Acquire
foundational knowledge of the way that cannabis products have been explored as a medicinal
product and how they are regulated. (TG1); 2. Develop the fundamental skills and knowledge
required to apply natural language processing (NLP) approaches of text analysis. (TG 2); and 3.
Further develop the general skills needed to be an independent substance use researcher,
including ethical conduct of research for substance using populations, grantsmanship, manuscript
writing, policy briefing and presentation to legislators, and cross-disciplinary research (TG3). The
research of this K01 is to characterize epidemiology of CBD use among US adults (18+ years). A
single survey (target n=1500) will be used complete the following specific research aims: 1.
Describe the characteristics of CBD users (Aim 1), 2. Characterize CBD use as a substitute or
adjunct to other medications. (Aim 2), and 3. Characterize self-reported CBD-related adverse
events (Aim 3). All aspects of this research and its future applications will be enhanced by the
growth in my understanding of cannabis regulation (TG 1) and NLP (TG 2). Dissemination
activities for the projects include peer-review publications, conference and symposium
presentations, and developing policy briefings and presentations to state legislature.