Johnny’s Ambassadors Announces Partnership with CLEAR30 to Test a 30-day Digital Cannabis Break for 16- and 17-Year-Olds 

Partnership with the CLEAR30 to test a 30-day digital cannabis break for 16- and 17-year-olds

Clear30 is a personalized mobile cannabis use intervention. Johnny’s Ambassadors has partnered with Clear30 to create a FREE, white-labeled app for 16- and 17-year-olds, offering individuals a structured 30-day digital cannabis break to help them build awareness and develop healthier habits. It’s Founder, Fred Muench, is a clinical psychologist, the former President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug Free Kids, President of the Partnership to End Addiction and the CEO and Co-Founder of Clear30. The program includes a brief assessment, personalized feedback on how to break, daily support messages, meditations, adaptive support, and a chatbot, all aimed at engaging users in a personalized behavior change process. Clear30 helps them moderate or continue with abstinence after. During those 30 days, the teen will receive daily topics such as preparing for your break, dealing with withdrawals and cravings, managing social networks, and more. After the 30-day break, the app is abstinence focused. If you would like your child to try this beta program, use this link to get the free version from Johnny’s Ambassadors, and follow the instructions exactly. Currently the beta test is only available for iPhone.

The Clear30: Your Path to a Clearer Relationship with Cannabis. The #1 app for cannabis users ready to quit, cut back, or take a break, backed by proven behavior change methods.

If you would like your child to try our beta program for 16- and 17-year-olds, use this link to get the free version from Johnny’s Ambassadors, and follow the instructions exactly. Currently the beta test is only available for iPhone.

Engaging Young People to Rethink their Relationship with Cannabis through Breaks

By Fred Muench

One of the most compelling opportunities to intervene with young people using cannabis heavily is the concept of a “tolerance break” or “t-break,” which is a self-imposed period of abstinence from cannabis use. This concept mirrors cultural movements like ‘Dry January’ for alcohol. There are several important reasons why this is compelling. First, is that young people take breaks already because they feel they need a break. Second, it is non-threatening. It is simply a break and most people see that disrupting routines, no matter what they are, is a positive, especially if they feel something is not going 100% right. Third, the research on Dry January shows that people who had no intention of changing, reduce or stop after taking a break because they didn’t realize how much alcohol was affecting them while they were drinking heavily.

As parents who have witnessed the consequences of heavy cannabis use, you know the cultural zeitgeist about use has changed. You know that as the landscape of cannabis use evolves, so must our approaches to understanding and addressing its impact on young people.

Despite the rise in CUD and related consequences, professional help-seeking remains low. Mennis and colleagues (2023) found that as cannabis use among young adults increased, treatment admissions declined. Some barriers to seeking treatment were the belief in one’s ability to manage the problem independently and the larger cultural shift in perceiving regular and high potency cannabis use as non-problematic. With this shift, we have to think about new models to support young people.

As we began studying treatment seeking among young cannabis users, I realized they actually do want to change things about their use. However, they do not want formal treatment. That is clear. Over 90% of NSDUH respondents with CUD did not want formal treatment. The trope that most people don’t get treatment is misleading. The majority don’t want treatment. They are overwhelmed by the thought of “stopping forever” or dealing with ambivalence when they are getting short-term perceived benefits.

In our research, over 50% of the people wanting to take a break saw the benefits of using as equal or greater than the consequences of weed. Yet, they still wanted to break. An antiquated model of engagement where we try to shove consequences down their throats will not work with these young people who are already using and perceiving benefits. Do we need to talk about consequences? Of course! Just like we need to talk about perceived and real benefits too because they are getting them. Yes, they are short-term, but they are real. Use happens for a reason.

Clear30, a personalized mobile health intervention, builds on these insights, offering individuals a structured 30-day digital cannabis break. The program includes a brief assessment, personalized feedback on how to break, daily support messages, meditations, adaptive support, and a chatbot, all aimed at engaging users in a personalized behavior change process. We give people tools for a 30-day break and help them moderate or continue with abstinence after.  During those 30-days, we have daily topics such as preparing for your break, dealing with withdrawal, craving, managing social networks and more!

We are now testing a program for 16–17-year-olds which is a 30-day break, then abstinence focused but still trying to not push them away. If you would like your child to try this beta program, use the QR code (and follow the instructions exactly).

Overall, our data show that over 90% of our users are 18-25, about 43% want to reduce their use after a break and 51% want to stop. In terms of outcomes, overall, 54.1% stopped entirely during their break, and there was over a 70% reduction in days used overall. Moreover, on the days that people used, there was a significant reduction in the amount they used. Just as important, 84% say they had improved mental clarity at the end of 30 days. Click here for a paper led by the Recovery Research Institute on the baseline characteristics of our sample.

For families, a cannabis break offers the opportunity for parents, siblings, and others to ask the family member they are concerned about to take a break. You are not asking them for a life-long commitment. You are asking them to please consider your relationship with them and to try something for one month. The key is an open conversation as you all know. What Clear30 adds is a tangible tool. It is something you can ask them to do while they are still in it.

Like always, we recommend if use is severe or there are emerging or serious mental health concerns to, make sure to get professional help, even if your child is not interested in formal care. Clear30 is a steppingstone so young people can live intentionally and take a step back from use without feeling judgment or pressure but it is not a substitute for care when a higher level is needed. For more, go to www.clear30.org.

Fred Muench is a clinical psychologist, the former President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug Free Kids, President of the Partnership to End Addiction and the CEO and Co-Founder of Clear30.