An app to better manage cannabis use

The pilot study was conducted with the support of a multidisciplinary team that included Stephanie Coronado-Montoya, the study’s first author and former PhD student of Jutras-Aswad’s, and Dr. Amal Abdel-Baki, a psychiatrist at CHUM, among others. 

In all, 101 young adults, ranging from 18 to 35 years old, were monitored in six specialized early-intervention clinics for psychosis in Quebec and Nova Scotia. 

The goal of the project is to provide an alternative to traditional care centred on abstinence and which is often inadequate for young adults who have experienced a first episode of psychosis and who do not plan to stop their cannabis consumption.

“When comparing standard care to an approach that includes CHAMPS, we can see that the app is well regarded and that it can be integrated into real clinical environments,” said Jutras-Aswad. 

“Even if we cannot currently draw any conclusions about CHAMPS’s efficacy, we have seen an encouraging signal in terms of a decrease in cannabis-related problems,” he said.

Now he and his researcher team aim to expand their work to include 250 young adults and six clinics throughout Quebec, Nova Scotia and Alberta. Recruitment will take place over a three-year period.

CHAMPS is more than a phone app, its proponents say: it could easily be included in existing clinical care, without increasing workloads for medical personnel.

In fact, the researchers add, it exemplifies a new approach to mental health care, one that is specifically designed to meet the actual needs of an often neglected young adult population.

“Many people don’t seek to, at least for a certain period of time, reduce or cease their cannabis use,” said Jutras-Aswad. “But these young people are open to changing their consumption to reduce the risks to their health. This is what CHAMPS is for.”

Designed in Montreal, the app could be adopted in countries where cannabis consumption is still illegal, he added. CHAMPS joins a larger movement that is working toward humanizing, personalizing and destigmatizing cannabis use in mental health care, he said. 

“It’s very important that we change perceptions, practices and philosophies in order to more broadly adopt harm reduction in mental health care,” he emphasized.

To that end, in July, he and his team published several Recommendations for Reducing the Risk of Cannabis Use-Related Adverse Psychosis Outcomes, actively promoting their approach via an international group.