Mobile Contingency Management for Marijuana and Tobacco Cessation

The purpose of this pilot project is to pilot-test a combined cannabis and smoking cessation treatment. The intervention combines mobile technology with behavioral strategies, counseling, and medications.

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States with 19.8 million current users. Population based data indicate that almost all cannabis users (90%) have a lifetime history of tobacco smoking and the majority (74%) currently smoke tobacco. While cannabis use alone is associated with significant adverse health effects, tobacco smoking is the number one preventable cause of illness and death in the U.S. This is true even among those using illicit drugs where the tobacco -related mortality rate is twice that of the general population. Among cannabis users, smoking tobacco is associated with increased frequency of marijuana use, increased morbidity, and poorer cannabis cessation outcomes. There is strong evidence for the short -term efficacy for cannabis use disorder (CUD) and smoking of contingency management (CM). It is an intensive behavioral therapy that provides incentives (vouchers, money) to individuals misusing substances contingent upon objective evidence from drug use. Implementation of CM has been limited because of the need to verify abstinence multiple times daily using clinic based monitoring and effects are short lived. The investigators recently developed a smart -phone application which allows a patient to video themselves several times daily while using a small CO monitor and to transmit the data to a secure server which has made the use of CM for outpatient smoking cessation portable and feasible. The mobile CM (mCM) approach paired with cognitive-behavioral counseling and pharmacological smoking cessation aids has been effective in reducing smoking in the short and long-term. The purpose of this pilot project is to pilot-test a combined cannabis and smoking mCM intervention. The pilot will allow the investigators to examine feasibility of the treatment and of planned recruitment strategies. These project aims will provide the first step toward implementation of an innovative approach that builds upon the power of mHealth technology to reduce the prevalence of both CUD and cigarette smoking.