NCT07787572

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how adding brain stimulation to a brief counseling session affects adults with cannabis use disorder. The counseling session uses motivational interviewing, which helps people talk through their reasons for changing or not changing cannabis use. The brain stimulation is called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). tACS uses electrodes on the scalp to give a very weak electrical current for a short time. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Does active tACS affect what participants say during the counseling session?
  • Does active tACS change brain activity after the session?
  • Is active tACS related to less cannabis use during the month after the session? Researchers will compare motivational interviewing with active tACS to motivational interviewing with placebo stimulation. Placebo stimulation uses the same setup but does not provide the active 30-minute stimulation. Participants will be assigned by chance to one of these groups, and neither participants nor the study staff member running the session will know which type of stimulation is used. Participants will complete questionnaires, breath and urine tests, a recorded counseling session during active or placebo stimulation, MEG and MRI brain scans, daily text-message check-ins about cannabis use, and follow-up questionnaires about one month later.

Trial Health

63
Monitor

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
82

participants targeted

Target at P50-P75 for not_applicable

Timeline
23mo left

Started Aug 2026

Typical duration for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
not yet recruiting

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

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Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Progress4%
Aug 2026Aug 2028

Study Start

First participant enrolled

August 1, 2026

Completed
12 days until next milestone

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

August 13, 2026

Completed
13 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

August 26, 2026

Completed
1.9 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

August 1, 2028

Expected
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

August 1, 2028

Last Updated

August 27, 2026

Status Verified

August 1, 2026

Enrollment Period

2 years

First QC Date

August 13, 2026

Last Update Submit

August 25, 2026

Conditions

Cannabis Use Disorder

Keywords

cannabis use disordermotivational interviewingtranscranial alternating current stimulationnon-invasive brain stimulation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

  • Client speech

    Motivational Interviewing Skill Code-defined change talk (CT; higher scores are better) and sustain talk (ST; lower scores are better) assessed via CASAA Application for Coding Treatment Interactions and session audio recording.

    Baseline

  • Cannabis use

    Timeline follow-back (TLFB) measure

    30 days

  • MEG

    Beta-band activity assessed using MNE-python

    Baseline

Secondary Outcomes (1)

  • Cannabis use

    30 days

Study Arms (2)

MI+stim

EXPERIMENTAL

30 minutes of motivational interviewing (MI) with active transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)

Device: transcranial alternating current stimulationBehavioral: Motivational interviewing (MI)

MI+sham

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

30 minutes of motivational interviewing (MI) with sham transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)

Device: sham transcranial alternating current stimulationBehavioral: Motivational interviewing (MI)

Interventions

transcranial alternating current stimulationDEVICE

Active transcranial alternating current stimulation

Also known as: tacs
MI+stim
sham transcranial alternating current stimulationDEVICE

sham transcranial alternating current stimulation including 30 seconds of ramp-up and ramp-down at the beginning and end of the session, with no stimulation between ramping procedures.

Also known as: tacs, sham
MI+sham
Motivational interviewing (MI)BEHAVIORAL

30 minute motivational interviewing session

MI+shamMI+stim

Eligibility Criteria

Age21 Years - 65 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • self-identification as having problematic cannabis use
  • age 21-65 years
  • SCID-5-RV module E indicating current cannabis use disorder

You may not qualify if:

  • currently engaged in treatment for any substance use disorder (SUD)
  • receiving treatment for any SUD within the prior 30 days
  • history of brain injury or major neurological diagnosis, vascular/neurodegenerative disorder, or complex primary headache disorder
  • evidence of current psychosis
  • past-year substance use disorder other than cannabis, alcohol, or nicotine
  • positive urine drug screen for any illicit drug other than cannabis
  • current or recent (past-month) medically significant withdrawal
  • MRI/tACS contraindications, including pregnancy
  • impaired hearing (psychotherapy using American Sign Language is not possible within the scope of this study)
  • insufficient corrected visual acuity to complete the assessment instruments
  • unable to read/speak English fluently
  • unable to provide valid informed consent

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

The Mind Research Network

Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87106, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Transcranial Direct Current StimulationMotivational Interviewing

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Electric Stimulation TherapyTherapeuticsConvulsive TherapyPsychiatric Somatic TherapiesBehavioral Disciplines and ActivitiesElectroshockPsychological TechniquesDirective CounselingCounselingMental Health ServicesHealth ServicesHealth Care Facilities Workforce and Services

Central Study Contacts

Research Coordinator

CONTACT

505-226-2323enact@mrn.org

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
DOUBLE
Who Masked
PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

August 13, 2026

First Posted

August 26, 2026

Study Start

August 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2028

Last Updated

August 27, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-08

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will share

There be maximum appropriate sharing of scientific data underlying peer-reviewed publications and other findings resulting from the work supported by this award (including preprints, refereed papers reported at conferences, and other findings). The scientific data underlying peer-reviewed publications will be shared by the time of publication, or for other findings, by the end of the period of performance, which includes no-cost extensions. Data from participants who have opted not to share their data will not be shared or uploaded. All data sharing is contingent on review and approval by the supervising IRB. All structural MRIs will be de-faced before sharing or uploading into the repository, and the participant's head/face shape collected during MEG preparation will be removed before uploading/sharing. Instead, the MEG-MRI transformation matrix will be uploaded and shared. Neither audio recordings nor data derived from audio recordings will be shared or uploaded.

Locations

US(1)