Chapter 12 - Schedule-induced drug self-administration

Abstract

This chapter describes schedule-induced drug self-administration. The characteristics of schedule-induced behavior bear some similarities to the behavioral features of drug abuse. Both are chronically excessive sorts of behavior with powerful motivational efficacies. They are intrusive activities that can take over the stream of behavior, sometimes to the detriment of alternative, adjustive functions. There are commonalities as to how they are generated and why they persist. To make such a case, it is necessary to show that in drug abuse, as in adjunctive behavior, the role of the environment is not simply permissive, but is an active determinant of the behavior. The chapter reviews the studies on schedule-induced oral and intravenous self-administration of drugs. The feasibility of applying the schedule-induction method for illuminating the problem of drug abuse is presented, as well as the behavioral and pharmacologic consequences of inducing chronic drug overindulgences. The chapter also describes the contribution of schedule-induced drug-taking to a theoretical understanding of how drugs may come to operate as powerful and enduring reinforcers for humans.