Cocaine addiction: Hypothesis derived from imaging studies with PET

The problem of cocaine addiction has to be understood both with respect to the properties of cocaine that make it such a reinforcing drug as well as the characteristics of the individuals who becomes addicted to it. Though it is well recognized that cocaine is among the most reinforcing of the drugs of abuse, 1* only 10-15% of those who initially try cocaine intranasally become cocaine abusers.3 This highlights the importance of individual biological as well as environmental factors in cocaine addiction. Though it is also true that under experimental conditions where cocaine is freely available most animals will self-administer it at the exclusion of other behaviors, 3 these conditions are rarely those encountered in our society were cocaine is not only a illegal drug but is also expensive. Thus the question that remains to be answered is what are the mechanisms that will make an individual overcome the normal positive and negative societal reinforcers in favor of cocaine sometimes even at the expense of his or her own conscious will.4.