# Development and Acceptability Testing of a Technology-based Intervention to Reduce College Students' Cannabis Misuse

> **NIH NIH R34** · WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $668,110

## Abstract

There are nearly 7 million undergraduate students enrolled in the 20 U.S. states and
Washington D.C. that have legalized the use of recreational cannabis. A study of cannabis use
across 11 U.S. college campuses found 53% of college students had used cannabis in their
lifetimes, and 26.2% had used in the past month. In fact, the cannabis marketing industry, which
uses brand personality and lifestyle experiences to sell cannabis products, views young adults
as a prime target audience for its marketing efforts. Yet, the human brain continues to develop
until age 25, and cannabis has been shown to interfere with brain development and cognition in
both longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. So, there is a critical need to educate college
students about the risks of cannabis use and to educate those who still choose to use cannabis
on how to navigate the complex marketplace of cannabis products. Campus health educators
across the country have identified a need for cannabis-related information, but the frequently
changing legal and product landscape has made providing such information a challenge. Our
long-term goal is to reduce cannabis misuse among young adults. We have developed an
intervention that positively impacts college students' knowledge of cannabis products and laws,
efficacy in navigating cannabis products, and risk perceptions. The objective of this application
is to refine and assess the feasibility and acceptability of this technology-based intervention for
college students that provides information on cannabis products, cannabis marketing, laws, and
relevant risks of cannabis use. We will refine our existing content through focus groups with 35
college students and 35 campus health educators and an advisory committee. We will use a
mixed method sequential explanatory design consisting of a survey of cannabis users and non-
users from three campuses, each in states where cannabis is legal, followed by in-depth
interviews with college students to examine intervention acceptability and feasibility. We will
examine whether perceptions differ based on past use and predictors associated with cannabis
use and misuse. The proposed study will result in a refined, theoretically grounded, expertly
designed intervention aimed at increasing young adults’ cannabis literacy. Based on the
findings of this study, we will next pursue a larger randomized controlled trial to test intervention
efficacy and outcomes across multiple sites in the United States. Ultimately, this intervention will
increase awareness of the risks associated with cannabis use while also empowering young
adults who choose to use cannabis to do so in an informed manner, reducing cannabis misuse
among college students in the United States.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11056639
- **Project number:** 1R34DA060303-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Stacey Jolene Hust
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $668,110
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-30 → 2027-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11056639

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11056639, Development and Acceptability Testing of a Technology-based Intervention to Reduce College Students' Cannabis Misuse (1R34DA060303-01A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/11056639. Licensed CC0.

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