Determination of the reliability and validity of the Marijuana Craving Questionnaire using imagery scripts

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the Marijuana Craving Questionnaire (MCQ) by using active imagery of auditorily presented scripts. Current marijuana users (n = 48) imagined scripts that varied in amount of descriptors of desire to smoke marijuana, from no-urge to high-urge content. Self-reported marijuana craving significantly increased as a function of script-urge intensity on Factors 1, 3, and 4 of the MCQ. Homogeneity of items comprising each MCQ factor was examined, indicating no significant departures from unidimensionality. These results verify and extend the reliability and validity of the MCQ as a multidimensional measurement of marijuana craving. The data also suggest that drug craving is not an all-or-none phenomenon.