Candis against cannabis addiction

Marco R. did not really want to stop smoking Cannabis. After nine years of Cannabis consumption and two episodes of ’horrible drunkedness’, he remembers little of his sorrowful 25th. year. Marco had firmly decided to lower his daily consumption of Cannabis and for that reason he decided to participate in the Dresden project.

The offer from Dresden to participate was exactly what Marco needed. In the Spring of 2006, a theraputic project to help Cannabis addicts commenced under the name of ’Candis’. 122 Cannabis consumers ranging in age from 16 to 46 participated. The initial project is now complete and both doctors and psychologists have presented their results and conclusions : About 80 participants have sharply reduced their consumption or have quit altogether.

The very positive results found a large echo amongst experts in the field. ’A truly exceptional concept of ambulatory treatment, unique in Europe’, enthused Sabine Bätsig, of the German Federal drugs office. For this reason the project has been introduced into 10 ambulatory treatment centres for drug addicts throughout Germany. According to Rolf Hüllinghorst, head of the office dealing with questions of drug dependence in Germany, doctors have waited a long time for a treatment programme dealing with Cannabis dependency. In Germany, half of all 18-24 year olds have consumed Cannabis at least once. Recent research proves that smoking joints can provoke a physical addiction. 4%-7% of Cannabis users become dependent; the risk of serious mental problems such as schizophrenia doubles.

Traditional theraputic approaches to Cannabis addiciton have been barely successful. ’Joint smokers of 16 years old need other forms of therapy than that given to 20 year old Crack users or 30 year old Heroin addicts’, says the psychologist Eva Hoch, project manager for Candis. ’The Cannabis smoker who seeks treatment - most of the time much younger than addicts who seek treatment for other drugs - feels overwhelmed by the traditional approach to drug treatment’. In 2004, the Technical University of Dresden decided to work on a new treatment model for Cannabis addiction. This model had already proved itself in Australia and the US. Abstinence therapy of 8-12 weeks is composed of three levels. The motivation of users to quit is initially encouraged. Doctors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Cannabis use with their patients and on an individual basis explain how their addiction took hold. Comportmental therapy is used to reduce consumption leading eventually to quitting the drug completely. Techniques are also provided to help ex-users to resist the strong desire to recommence the habit. Finally participants are provided with tools to resolve conflict, without using Cannabis to solve the problem.

’Therapy sessions are recorded on video so that each participant can visually understand the changes to his/her comportment’, says Eva Hoch.

When Marco smoked for the first time nine years ago, he had no idea that a dependence on Cannabis was possible. Three years later he had lost the motivation to get out of bed each morning, to follow his schoolwork, or even to concentrate properly on things. Marco recalls that ’I had really become a vegetable’.

Many participants on the Candis course had initially complained of a lack of concentration and a bad memory. ’They had for these reasons big problems with their academic studies or at their place of work’, says Eva Hoch, and certain participants experienced significant problems during the initial weeks of therapy. Marco was one of these. He received his initial impulse to at least reduce his Cannabis consumption many months before, when, after a particularly heavy smoking session, he developed an unpleasent attack of vertigo. On waking in the morning he had a panic attack. ’I didn’t know who I was anymore’, recalls Marco. ’It was shocking ’. The second impulse to quit arrived some time later when a close friend of his underwent a psychotic crisis after smoking a joint and ended up in a psychiatric institution.

For these reasons Marco R. decided to reduce his consumption of Hash. For him it was important that ’nobody was going to pressure me to quit immediately’ if he participated in the project, led by 6 psychotherapists and 4 assistants. First objective : To modify one’s attitude towards Cannabis. The effects of this so-called ’inoffensive’ drug were discussed and images were shown that explained the brain damage that Cannabis could cause. According to Marco, this explained ’why I had become so lazy and distracted’.

Special comportmental training taught him how to live in his community where nearly everybody smoked. The twelve weeks of therapy motivated him strongly, says Marco today. ’Participating in the project was a saviour for me’. Since then Marco has left his community and has not touched Cannabis in over a year.

(Der Spiegel, 45/2007).