According to new research by the Boston University School of Medicine, a brief intervention of people engaged in lower-risk drug use might decrease the chances of riskier substance usage. The results appeared in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
In the study, conducted between mid-2009 to early-2012, 57 participants were recruited from screenings using the Alcohol Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test. They were then instructed to undergo a motivational interview with a trained health official. The majority of the participants were frequent consumers of cannabis, a psychoactive substance.
“Primary outcome was number of days use of main drug in the past 30 as determined by validated calendar method at 6 months. Analyses were performed using negative binomial regression adjusted for baseline use and main drug,” the study’s co-authors explained in the findings.
For researchers, the primary objective was to test the effectiveness of two brief interventions implemented for substance abusers.
Based on the results, a brief intervention could inhibit the risk of more chronic substance use among lower-risk users.
“These findings raise the potential that less severe patterns of drug use in primary care may be uniquely amenable to brief intervention and warrant replication,” the co-authors concluded.
The study was also initiated by researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health and Boston Medical Center.
