Single- versus dual-drug target: effects in a brief abstinence incentive procedure

The number of drugs targeted may have an important influence on the ability of drug abusers to abstain during motivational incentive procedures. The authors investigated outcomes in methadone maintenance patients (n = 58), who had evidence of both opiate and cocaine use, when continuous abstinence from cocaine only (single target) or from both cocaine and heroin (dual target) was required to earn US dollars 200 in voucher incentives over a 4-day period. Study patients were equally likely to initiate and sustain abstinence from cocaine under the single- versus the dual-drug target. They were more likely to initiate opiate abstinence under the dual-target condition, demonstrating sensitivity to reinforcer effects. Results suggest that adding a second drug target does not impede short-term cocaine abstinence initiation.