Talking and support treatments helped people cut illegal drug use

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   2,340 adults took part in 34 trials, with cannabis, cocaine, opiate or mixed drug problems. On average they were about 35 years old, and about 6 in 10 were men.

2. 02

   What they did

   People got one of several treatments: rewards for drug-free tests, talking therapy, practice handling risky situations, or a mix. Treatments lasted about 21 weeks, with about two sessions a week. The other groups got usual care, had to wait, or had another treatment.

3. 03

   What happened

   Overall the effect was moderate: 31 in 100 people stayed off drugs, against 13 in 100 in the other groups. Rewards did best of the single treatments; a mix of the two looked better, but on only two studies. The review did not rate study quality, and it checked for missing studies only for the overall result.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Talking and support treatments helped people use illegal drugs less than the other group did.

   Pooled analysis of 34 studies with 2,340 people · vs people who got usual care or other treatments

2. Helped

   Getting rewards for drug-free test results helped people use illegal drugs less than the other group did.

   • Rule: Get a reward or payment for doing ittested

   Pooled analysis of 14 studies · vs usual care or rewards not tied to tests

3. Helped

   Therapy that practised non-drug responses helped people use drugs less than the other group did.

   • Action: Rehearse the steps in your mindtested
   • Rule: With a coach or therapistused

   Pooled analysis of 13 studies · vs people who got usual care or other treatments

4. Helped

   Practising ways to handle risky situations helped people use drugs less than the other group did.

   • Action: Rehearse the steps in your mindtested
   • Rule: With a coach or therapistused

   Pooled analysis of 5 studies · vs people who got usual care or other treatments

Source