Clinical profile of participants in a brief intervention program for cannabis use disorder

The increasing demand for cannabis dependence treatment has led to the iden tification of significant gaps in the knowledge of effective interventions. A randomized controlled trial of brief cognitive-behavioral interventions (CBT) for cannabis dependence was undertaken to address this issue. A total of 229 participants were assessed and allocated to either a 6-session CBT program, a single-session brief intervention, or a delayed-treatment contro l group. This paper demonstrates that individuals with cannabis use disorde r will present for a brief intervention program. While they report similar patterns of cannabis use to nontreatment samples, they report a range of se rious health and psychosocial consequences. While they appear relatively so cially stable, they typically demonstrated severe cannabis dependence and s ignificantly elevated levels of psychological distress, with the most commo nly cited reason for cannabis use being stress relief. There were clinicall y relevant gender differences among the sample. This study provides more ev idence of the demand for, and nature of issues relevant to, interventions f or cannabis use disorders, and supports the need for further research into how best to assist individuals with these disorders. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scie nce Inc. All rights reserved.