Evaluating Tetrahydrocannabinol as an Adjunct to Opioid Agonist Therapy (THC-MMT)

Evaluating Tetrahydrocannabinol as an Adjunct to Opioid Agonist Therapy for Individuals Living With Opioid Use Disorder: A Phase II, Placebo-controlled, Blinded, Pilot Study to Assess Safety and Feasibility (THC-MMT)

This pilot study will evaluate the feasibility and safety of using 1:1 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC):Cannabidiol (CBD) cannabis oil as an adjunct therapy to methadone-based Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) in a community setting.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Cannabis; Opioid Use Disorder; Fentanyl; Methadone
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Aurora 1:1 Drops (Indica); Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

This is a single-site, two-phase pilot clinical trial evaluating the safety and feasibility of administering a balanced 1:1 ratio of THC:CBD cannabis oil alongside methadone-based opioid agonist therapy (OAT) in a community setting.

Phase 1 is a 12-week, double-blind, randomized controlled study involving 24 eligible participants with opioid use disorder (OUD) who recently initiated or re-initiated methadone-based OAT. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either balanced THC:CBD cannabis oil or placebo oil. All participants will receive OUD clinical care, including OAT management, independent of research visits.

After the 12-week blinded treatment period (Phase 1), eligible participants will be invited to Phase 2, a 12-week open-label treatment extension study with all participants receiving balanced THC:CBD cannabis oil. Follow-up research visits will occur every two weeks from the start of open-label treatment.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 24
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Josie Kanu, BSc; Phone Number: 6045001102; Email: josie.kanu@bccsu.ubc.ca

Study Locations

• Canada
  • British Columbia
    • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6Z 1Y6
      • Recruiting
      • Rapid Access Addiction Clinic (RAAC), St. Paul's Hospital
      • Contact: Josie Kanu, BSc; Phone Number: 6045001102; Email: josie.kanu@bccsu.ubc.ca
      • Contact: M. Eugenia Socias, MD, MSc; Email: eugenia.socias@bccsu.ubc.ca
      • Principal Investigator: Sukhpreet Klaire, MD CCFP (AM)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Individuals of at least 25 years of age or older;
2. Diagnosed with OUD as per DSM-5 criteria;
3. Initiated or re-initiated methadone-based OAT within the past 30 days prior to study entry;
4. Cannabis-use experienced, defined as having used any amount of cannabis in the six months prior to the screening visit;
5. Willing to only use study-provided cannabis as directed by study protocol, including abstention from non-study cannabis and cannabinoids;
6. Agree to keep all study medication stored in a secure location and not to share/distribute study medication to any other individual;

7. If assigned female sex at birth:

   1. Be of non-childbearing potential, defined as (i) postmenopausal (12 months of spontaneous amenorrhea and over 45 years of age); or (ii) documented surgical sterilization (i.e., tubal ligation, hysterectomy, or bilateral oophorectomy); or
   2. If of childbearing potential, be willing to use an acceptable method of contraception throughout the study and have a negative pregnancy test at screening;
8. Ability to understand and comply with study protocol procedures and to provide written informed consent.

Inclusion criteria for Phase 2

In addition to meeting all eligibility criteria outlined in Phase 1, participants will be eligible for Phase 2 provided they meet ALL the following criteria at Week 12:

1. Participants who have not experienced a study medication-related serious adverse event during Phase 1;
2. Participants who have not been lost to follow-up during Phase 1.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Any disabling, severe, or unstable medical or psychiatric condition that, in the opinion of the study physician, precludes safe participation in the study or the ability to provide fully informed consent, as assessed by medical and psychiatric history, physical examination, vital signs, and/or laboratory tests;
2. Any severe or unstable co-morbid substance use disorder (e.g., delirium tremens, acute alcohol intoxication) that, in the opinion of the study physician, precludes safe participation in the study;
3. Currently pregnant or breastfeeding, or planning to become pregnant;
4. Known or suspected allergy or hypersensitivity to cannabinoids;
5. History of respiratory disease, severe cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, renal or liver disease;
6. Current or historic cannabis use disorder;
7. Taking warfarin, clopidogrel, clobazam, theophylline, clozapine and olanzapine medications as they may interact with cannabinoids in a clinically significant manner if they cannot be switched to a different medication;
8. Any personal or family history (first degree relative) of primary psychotic disorders (i.e., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder) as per DSM-5 criteria;
9. Unable to abstain from driving any vehicle or operating machinery for at least 10 hours after taking the study medication. In cases where impairment persists beyond the initial 10-hour period, participants must continue to adhere to these restrictions until the impairment resolves;
10. Actively participating in other interventional clinical trial(s);
11. Incarcerated, pending legal action or other reasons that might prevent completion of the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Aurora 1:1 Drops (Indica); Aurora 1:1 Drops (Indica) Balanced 1:1 ratio of THC and CBD packaged in a 30 mL bottle: THC: 16.8 mg/g (+/- 15%) CBD: 16.8 mg/g (+/- 15%) Induction and dosing will be ad libitum and sublingually self-administered. Initial dose will be 5 mg (equivalent to 0.25 mL)/day and participants will be able to titrate in increments of 2.5mg (0.125 mL)/day up to a maximum of 40 mg (2 mL)/day, in consultation with a study physician.	Drug: Aurora 1:1 Drops (Indica); Aurora 1:1 Drops (Indica) is created by extracting cannabinoids and terpenes and the concentrated extract is then diluted in medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil for optimal use.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo; Formulated using the same medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil as Aurora 1:1 Drops (Indica) Induction and dosing will be ad libitum and sublingually self-administered. Initial dose will be 5 mg (equivalent to 0.25 mL)/day and participants will be able to titrate in increments of 2.5mg (0.125 mL)/day up to a maximum of 40 mg (2 mL)/day, in consultation with a study physician.	Drug: Placebo; Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil with the same appearance, color, and taste as the Aurora 1:1 Drops (Indica).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Risk of Treatment Contamination	The proportion of participants using non-study cannabis in the control arm, and proportion of days in Phase 1 where non-study cannabis was used. Self-report of non-study cannabis use will be collected using the Timeline Follow Back (TLFB).	24 weeks
Participants' adherence to treatment	The degree of compliance with the recommended treatment plan, including study drug dosage and administration. This measures how well participants are able to stick to the prescribed treatment regimen and whether or not they are able to complete the full course of treatment. This will be assessed through a self-reported measure, such as study drug diary or treatment logs.	24 weeks
Acceptability	Participant satisfaction with the assigned treatment will be assessed through administration of the Medical Safety Questionnaire (MSQ) every 4 weeks during treatment phase The MSQ is a participant-completed questionnaire that evaluates participant satisfaction with study treatment on a 7-point Likert scale.	24 weeks
Blinding effectiveness	The blinding success questionnaire will be used to evaluate the participants' awareness of their assigned treatment.	24 weeks
Adequacy of Dose	Patient satisfaction with dose level assessed through the adequacy of dose questionnaire and regular consultations	24 weeks
Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events [Safety and Tolerability]	The safety will be evaluated by monitoring and gathering information on physical exam, vital signs, pregnancy testing, adverse events (AE) and serious adverse events (SAE), from the screening visit up to the End of Treatment (EOT)/Early Termination visit. AEs and SAEs will be monitored and recorded throughout the study duration. The proportion of participants who experience AEs or SAEs will be assessed by study arm.	28 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
The number of potential participants referred to the study	24 weeks
The screening failure rates	24 weeks
The monthly enrolment rates	24 weeks
The proportion of eligible participants who are willing to be randomized, willing to initiate the intervention and willing to complete 12-week assessments by study arm	24 weeks
The proportion of scheduled study visits completed by study arm	24 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Retention in OAT	Retention in OAT will be measured by the proportion of participants on OAT at W12 and at W24, defined as having both a) an active OAT prescription at week 12/24, and b) a positive UDT result for the prescribed OAT at week 12/24.	24 weeks
Illicit opioid use	Suppression of illicit opioid use will be measured as the percentage of opioid-free weeks during W1-12, using a combination of Urine Drug Test (UDT) results and self-reported illicit opioid use assessed by the TLFB.	24 weeks
Pain Intensity	The severity of pain will be assessed by the validated scale within the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) 29+2 Profile v2.1 (PROPr): the PROMIS Pain Intensity item.	24 weeks
Pain Interference	The impact of pain on its impact on functioning will be assessed the validated scale within the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) 29+2 Profile v2.1 (PROPr): PROMIS SF v1.0 - Pain Interference 4a scale.	24 weeks
Anxiety	Anxiety symptoms will be assessed by the validated short scale within the PROMIS 29+2 Profile v2.1 (PROPr): the PROMIS SF v1.0 - Anxiety 4a	24 weeks
Depression	Depressive symptoms will be assessed by the validated short scale within the PROMIS 29+2 Profile v2.1 (PROPr): the PROMIS SF v1.0 - Depression 4a.	24 weeks
Changes in health-related quality of life	Changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between screening and the end of treatment will be measured by the PROMIS 29+2 Profile v2.1 (PROPr).	24 weeks
Changes in substance-use related problems	The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) Self-Report form will be used to assess changes in substance-use related problems between Baseline (W0) prior to the start of treatment administration, Treatment Visit at W12 and EOT (W24)/Early Termination.	24 weeks
Opioid Craving	Opioid craving over time will be measured using a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS), with 11 lines labeled from left to right with the numbers "0" to "10", and word anchors at each end representing the extremes, where "0=no craving" and "100 mm=most intense craving".	24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: BC Centre on Substance Use
• Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: M Eugenia Socias, MD, MSc., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 23, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 26, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 3, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 14, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 14, 2025
• Last Verified: February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: addiction; Quality of Life; Pain; Opioid; Opioid Use Disorder; Cannabis; Cannabidiol; Harm Reduction
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Narcotic-Related Disorders; Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Opioid-Related Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: BCCSU-005

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No