Varenicline and Motivational Advice for Smokers With Substance Use Disorders

Nicotine replacement treatment (NRT) will follow the clinical practice guidelines for nicotine patch for people smoking at least 10 cigarettes per day (USDHHS, 2000), modified to allow 12 weeks use (tapering recommended for people with AUDs by Hughes et al., 2003b): 21 mg/day for 4 weeks, 14 mg/day for 4 weeks, 7 mg/day for 4 weeks.

Varenicline (VAR, 2 mg/d in divided doses) will be administered as follows. VAR: participant takes 0.5 mg/d for the first 3 days, 1 mg/d (0.5 mg 2x/d) for the next 4 days, and 2mg/d (1.0mg 2x/d) for 12 weeks.

The counseling consists of 10 sessions of Brief Advice (BA).BA is a simple smoking cessation counseling strategy: Assess smoking and initial interest in cessation, advise patient to quit smoking, assist patient in quitting, discussion of sobriety specific concerns, and cognitive-behavioral skills training. Medication management is conducted in every session, smoking cessation pamphlets are available. Session 1 (60 min, in-person) will be 1 week before Quit Day.Session 2 (30 min, in-person) takes place on Quit Day. Session 3 (10 min, in-person) will be 1 week later. Sessions 4-10 will be 5-10 min. telephone contacts at Weeks 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 after Quit Day.