Withdrawal syndrome occurs in 50% of cannabis dependant patients. In our clinical practice, we observed that few patients recognize and attribute abstinence symptoms to cannabis cessation. Insight or awareness of cannabis dependence remains poorly studied.

We propose to study the relationship between insight and cannabis withdrawal syndrome. Our hypothesis is that patients showing a higher score on a cannabis withdrawal scale would have a higher score on an insight scale.

We recruited 35 cannabis dependent outpatients between October 2008 and April 2009 in an addiction clinic. Insight of cannabis dependance was assessed with the insight Q8 scale ranging [0–8]. We designed a cannabis withdrawal scale by checking DSM V withdrawal symptoms, and each symptom was retrospectively scored by an analogue scale (from 0 to 5). Correlation between insight and withdrawal scores was calculated using Spearman’s ρ.

Sex ratio was 2.5. Mean age was 35.9±1.4 years. Most patients (85.7%) reported at least one withdrawal symptom. Sleep disturbances (95.8%) and craving (75.8%) were the most frequent. Mean score of insight was of 4.2±0.4 points.

The intensity of withdrawal syndrome and insight score were positively correlated (ρ=0.594, p<0.001).

Our results show an association between experiencing more withdrawal symptoms and insight or awareness of cannabis dependence. These results could be used in the treatment of cannabis dependent patients.