A community-based therapy helped Iranian teens with cannabis use disorder achieve abstinence and reduce distress

Among 40 male adolescents with CUD, those receiving A-CRA (n=20) showed higher abstinence rates, reduced cannabis use frequency, decreased substance-related problems, lower psychological distress, improved health-promoting lifestyles, and better mother-adolescent relationships compared to treatment as usual, with effects maintained at three-month follow-up.

Randomized controlled trial of 40 male adolescents aged 15-18 diagnosed with CUD, recruited from child labor welfare educational centers in Tehran. Participants randomized to A-CRA or treatment as usual, assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up.

This is the first test of A-CRA outside Western contexts, demonstrating that an evidence-based adolescent cannabis treatment can be effective in a culturally distinct population with compounding socioeconomic vulnerabilities.

Most adolescent cannabis treatment research comes from the US, Canada, and Europe. Successful adaptation in Iran, where cultural and socioeconomic contexts differ markedly, supports the cross-cultural robustness of behavioral reinforcement approaches for teen substance use.

Small sample (n=40) of only males from a specific vulnerable population (child labor centers). Purposive sampling limits generalizability. No biological verification of abstinence mentioned. Three-month follow-up is relatively short.