Treatment of crack cocaine use with carbamazepine

Crack is a rock crystalline alkaloid form of cocaine which can be smoked. At the University of Minnesota, we have developed an experimental pharmacologic treatment for cocaine abusers. Of 26 patients treated to date, 16 have been crack cocaine users. During the hundred days preceding treatment, the 16 crack subjects used cocaine by all routes an average of 71 days each. Improvement was based on a self-reported decrease in cocaine frequency of use. Using carbamazepine, seven highly successful and six partially successful patients reduced their use to 0.7 days and 26 days per 100 days, respectively. These results, though hopeful, must be viewed with caution and considered preliminary and tentative.