PROGRAMS INTRODUCED TO REDUCE TEEN MARIJUANA ADDICTION

WASHINGTON (CNN) - - The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) introduced five new programs for treating
marijuana addiction in adolescents at the kickoff of its Recovery Month
2000 on Thursday.

Researchers said the new programs are more effective than current
outpatient treatment plans.

"While no treatment is a magic bullet, each is associated with better
results than existing treatments," said Michael Dennis, one of the
researchers who designed the programs.

National Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey was on hand for
the event. He called for $2.6 billion in additional spending

The programs were designed to work in outpatient treatment facilities.
The five programs vary in length (6 to 14 weeks), mode( individual,
group, and family ) and a planned number of sessions (5 to 23) and
cost.

The programs are: MORE Learn more about the Substance Abuse & Mental
Health Services Administration

1. Motivational Enhancement Therapy/ Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MET/
CBT5) is a five-session treatment with two private sessions to motivate
the adolescent to change and three group sessions on marijuana refusal
skills, increasing social support for abstinence and relapse prevention


2. Cognitive Behavior Therapy 7 (CBT7) is a treatment designed to
follow MET/ CBT5 and provide additional group sessions on other common
topics including problem solving, dealing with anger and criticism,
coping with cravings and relapse, and depression management.

3. The Family Support Network (FSN) is a treatment designed to
supplement MET/ CBT or other types of treatment with additional support
for families such as home visits and parent education meetings.

4. The Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA) is composed
of 14 private sessions with the adolescent and/ or the adolescents
concerned other that focus on learning alternative skills to cope with
problems and to change the environmental issues related to continued
substance abuse.

5. Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) - integrates substance abuse
treatment into 12 weeks of family-focused treatment (plus other phone
and case management contact) that involves working with the adolescents
and their families on family roles and other problems areas.

The researchers have followed up the 600 participants at 3 months and 6
months after completion. They are currently beginning 9 and 12 - month
follow-ups. The rate of any use decreased by 31 percent between the 3
months before and directly after treatment. These are better than
results in all prior studies of adolescent outpatient treatment in
community settings. Improvements were also seen in terms of decreased
involvement with the criminal justice system; decreased attention,
family, and school problems; and decreased illegal activity, fighting
or violence.

The five types of treatment range from $105 to $244 per adolescent, per
week, which experts say is sustainable under current funding levels.

McCaffrey said 85 percent of people behind bars have chronic drug or
alcohol problems.

While the recent household drug survey showed use was down, it also
showed there was a 45 - percent rise in treatment admission. McCaffrey
said, "As encouraging as these numbers are... it seems to us we need to
increase by 2.6 billion by 2007."