The Marijuana Check-up: promoting change in ambivalent marijuana users

Area of Science:

• Addiction research
• Behavioral psychology
• Public health interventions

Background:

• Marijuana users experiencing negative consequences often show ambivalence towards change.
• Reaching and motivating these individuals for treatment is a significant public health challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a two-session personalized feedback (PF) intervention.
• To increase motivation for change among marijuana users with negative consequences but ambivalence.

Main Methods:

• 188 adult marijuana users were randomly assigned to personalized feedback (PF) or multi-media feedback (MMF) educational conditions, or a delayed feedback control (DFC).
• Assessments of marijuana use, dependence symptoms, and motivational constructs occurred at 7 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months.

Main Results:

• PF participants showed significantly reduced marijuana use and dependence symptoms at 7 weeks compared to MMF and DFC.
• At 12 months, PF participants still reported less frequent marijuana use than MMF participants.
• PF also led to fewer dependence symptoms at 6 and 12 months compared to MMF.

Conclusions:

• The PF intervention, delivered during a check-up, can effectively engage and motivate marijuana users towards change.
• This approach holds potential for individuals with diagnosable marijuana use disorders who are not actively seeking treatment.
• Further research is needed to enhance the magnitude of behavioral change observed.