Screening and Brief Intervention for Drug Use in Primary Care

The success of screening and brief intervention for alcohol misuse in primary care has raised hopes that the same approach might work for abuse of other drugs. However, two new studies suggest that skepticism is warranted.

In the first study, researchers in Boston randomized 528 adult primary care patients who scored positive for frequent use (or any use with consequences) of illicit drugs or prescription opioid drugs to receive one of the following: (1) a 10- to 15-minute structured interview, conducted by trained counselors, that focused on consequences of drug use and plans to change behavior, (2) a 30- to 45-minute motivational interview with a possible booster session, also delivered by trained counselors, or 3) no intervention. All par…