NIDA-CTN-0009

The prevalence of cigarette smoking among substance abusers is high, and substance abusers who smoke have more health problems, higher death rates, and more severe drug and alcohol addiction than those who don't. In the past decade, studies have demonstrated that smoking cessation programs and smoke-free policies can be successful in drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinics. Patients stay in treatment longer, they stop smoking for a time, and they do not use more drugs or alcohol than other patients. This study looks at how feasible it is to incorporate a state-of-the-art smoking cessation treatment program into community substance abuse treatment programs and to see if adding such a program will help people quit smoking and stay off of drugs and alcohol better than substance abuse treatment alone. The treatment for quitting smoking consists of group counseling in combination with the nicotine skin patch (NicoDerm CQ).