Attempts to Stop/Reduce Marijuana Among Dependent Users

The major aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of attempts to stop or
reduce marijuana use that can be used to develop better behavioral treatments for marijuana
dependence. The application will focus on adult daily marijuana users who try to stop or
reduce their marijuana use in a real-world setting. Although prospective, natural history
studies describing attempts to stop or reduce alcohol, heroin and tobacco use have proved
useful, we know of no such study among adult marijuana users. Two pilot studies will
develop measures and assess compliance with our procedures. The main study will recruit up
to 400 adult marijuana smokers with the goal of a sample size of 200 participants with
adequate compliance. Participants will call an Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) system
daily for 3 months to report marijuana use, quit/reduction attempts, and events that might
increase or decrease the probability of initiating a quit/reduction attempt or the success
of an attempt. Follow-up at 6 months will track recent marijuana and other drug use.
Knowing what motivates marijuana users to try to stop or reduce, and knowing which
strategies for stopping marijuana use are successful, can help develop treatments for
marijuana dependence. For example, if stopping tobacco when trying to stop marijuana
decreases the chance of stopping marijuana, then smoking cessation should be done after
stopping marijuana. Or if reducing marijuana often leads to cessation, then convincing
those not interested in quitting marijuana to first try reducing may be helpful.