Cocaine self-administration in humans

Abstract

Studies are described in which normal healthy volunteers were tested with a wide range of intravenous doses of cocaine of d-amphetamine. Physiological measurements included heart rate, electrocardiogram, blood pressure, respiration rate, and temperature. Behavioral measures included the use of the Profile of Mood States to assess drug-related mood changes, the Addiction Research Center Inventory to assess drug-related changes in verbal reports of their effects, and ratings comparing drug effects of experimentally administered and "street" drugs. In addition, plasma levels of cocaine were monitored to correlate with physiological and behavioral effects. Subjects were also allowed to choose between intravenous injections of cocaine or saline. As with nonhuman research subjects, cocaine was consistently chosen over saline by all subjects tested. The self-administration data and data describing the subjective and cardiovascular spectrum of action were combined to yield a more complete profile of cocaine's action in humans.