Cocaine behavioral economics: from the naturalistic environment to the controlled laboratory setting

We previously observed that behavioral economic factors predict naturalistic heroin seeking behavior that correlates with opioid seeking in the experimental laboratory. The present study sought to replicate and extend these prior findings with regular cocaine users.

Participants (N=83) completed a semi-structured interview to establish income-generating and cocaine-purchasing/use repertoire during the past month. Questions addressed sources/amounts of income and expenditures; price (money and time) per purchase; and frequency/amounts of cocaine purchased and consumed. Naturalistic cocaine purchasing and use patterns were: (1) analyzed as a function of income quartile, (2) perturbed by hypothetical changes in cost factors to assess changes in purchasing/use habits, and (3) correlated with experimental cocaine seeking.

Income was positively related to naturalistic cocaine seeking/use pattern (i.e., income elastic), and behaviors were cost-efficient and sensitive to supply chain. Income was unrelated to proportional expenditure on cocaine (≈55%) but inversely related to food expenditure. In all hypothetical scenarios (changes in income or dealer, loss of income assistance from government or family/friends, and increasing arrest risk when purchasing), the high-income group reported they would continue to use more cocaine daily than other groups. Number of laboratory cocaine choices significantly correlated with cocaine purchase time (positively) and purity of cocaine (negatively) in the naturalistic setting.

These results replicate and extend findings with regular heroin users, demonstrate the importance of income, cost-efficiency and supply-mindedness in cocaine seeking/use, and suggest that this interview-based approach has good external validity.