Contingency management promotes smoking reductions in residential substance abuse patients.

Rates and consequences of cigarette smoking are more severe in substance abusers. In this 12-week pilot study, residential substance abuse treatment patients received standard care for smoking cessation (n=12) or prize contingency management (n=12) for expired carbon monoxide (CO) tests < or =8 ppm and salivary cotinine <10 ng/ml, which are indicative of smoking abstinence. Percentage of negative CO tests and the highest number of consecutive negative CO tests were greater in contingency management compared to standard care.