A Case Report of a Concurrent Treatment of Cannabis and Tobacco Use within a Community Substance Misuse Service

We report the case of a heavy cannabis and tobacco user tracked over a fifteen-week treatment episode comprising tobacco and cannabis cessation interventions, with successive follow-ups at three, six and nine months. Upon treatment exit, the client was abstinent from both cannabis and tobacco, sustained at three-month followup. At six months, the client had returned to smoking tobacco but maintained abstinence from cannabis. At final follow-up the client reported several lapses of cannabis use alongside continued tobacco smoking. The case suggests that, for some clients at least, over the initial withdrawal period abstinence from one substance does not undermine abstinence from another. It also suggests that clients accessing community drug treatment may benefit from concurrent smoking cessation interventions, and that addressing stress may be key to sustaining positive treatment outcomes.