Clinical trial finds cannabis use not a barrier to quitting nicotine vaping

(Press-News.org) Adolescent and young adult nicotine vaping has become an urgent public health concern, as 2024 marked the first year that nicotine vaping was the most initiated drug. Though vaping is the most common way young people use nicotine, few treatments exist to help those trying to quit. What’s more, a 2022 Drug Alcohol Dependence study reported around half of young people who vape nicotine also use cannabis, though the impact of this dual substance use on treatment outcomes remains unclear. A new clinical trial by investigators from Mass General Brigham found varenicline—a medication used to help patients quit nicotine—was effective for vaping cessation regardless of cannabis use in a study of 261 participants aged 16 to 25 years. Their results are published in JAMA Network Open.

“We need to increase use of nicotine vaping cessation treatment by young people, and we know that cannabis use is widespread in this population,” said first author Jodi Gilman, PhD, Director of Neuroscience for the Center for Addiction Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Psychiatry. “It’s fantastic news that cannabis use doesn’t appear to be a barrier to successful vaping cessation with varenicline treatment, and we can use our findings to inform screening, treatment, planning, and public health messaging moving forward.”

In a previously conducted randomized clinical trial, participants who regularly vaped nicotine received varenicline, placebo, or usual care for the full 12-week trial. All participants also had access to a nicotine cessation support text app.

In the new study, researchers split the participants by cannabis use, with 28% reporting no use in the past month, 38% reporting use one-to-three days per week, and 30% reporting use four-to-seven days per week. Contrary to the authors’ hypothesis, cannabis use did not hinder adolescents and young adults from achieving nicotine vaping abstinence. Rather, they found that odds of being able to quit were similar across all levels of cannabis use and that varenicline was associated with higher rates of nicotine vaping abstinence than behavioral support interventions alone. Varenicline did not affect rates of cannabis use.

Future studies could explore the effects of integrated interventions that target cannabis and nicotine co-use may yield additional benefit.

Authorship: In addition to Gilman, Mass General Brigham authors include Corinne Cather, Bryn Evohr, Gladys N. Pachas, Randi M. Schuster, A. Eden Evins, and Harrison T. Reeder. Additional authors include Kevin M. Gray and Erin A. McClure.

Disclosures: Cather reported contract work with Charles River Analytics as part of a grant from a National Institute on Drug Abuse Small Business Innovation Research award outside the submitted work. Pachas reported consulting fees from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and service on the Racial Equity Advisory Board outside the submitted work. Gray reported grants as a site principal investigator on a clinical trial from Aelis Farma and consulting fees from Achieve Life Sciences, Indivior, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals outside the submitted work. Dr Evins reported contract work with Charles River Analytics as part of a grant from a National Institute on Drug Abuse Small Business Innovation Research award to develop virtual reality vaping cessation interventions outside the submitted work; she reported receiving editorial support from Pfizer Inc for papers published related to the EAGLES trial.


Funding: Funded by National Institute of Health grants (Nos. R01 DA052583, 3R01DA052583-03S1, and 3R01DA052583-03S2; principal investigators, Evins and Schuster). The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Paper cited: Gilman JM et al. “Cannabis Use and Nicotine Vaping Cessation Outcomes” JAMA Network Open DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.47799

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