Using crowdsourcing to study the differential effects of cross-drug withdrawal for cigarettes and opioids in a behavioral economic demand framework.

Abstract

Smoking rates among those who use prescribed or recreational opioids are significantly higher than the general population. Hypothesized neuropharmacological interactions between opioids and nicotine may contribute to this pattern of polysubstance use, especially during withdrawal. However, little research has examined how the withdrawal of one substance may affect the consumption of the other (i.e., cross-drug withdrawal effects). Behavioral economic demand tasks (e.g., hypothetical purchase tasks) can be used to quickly assess the value of a drug. Crowdsourcing can be a convenient tool to gain preliminary insight into different processes in substance valuation that may otherwise be impossible or prohibitively difficult to study. The purpose of the present study was to provide a preliminary examination of the effects of hypothetical withdrawal of cigarettes and opioids on the consumption of those drugs among polysubstance users. Amazon Mechanical Turk workers who reported daily smoking and at least monthly opioid use completed a series of hypothetical purchase tasks for doses of opioids and cigarettes under various withdrawal conditions. Sensitivity to the price of both drugs decreased when under withdrawal for either, indicating a higher drug value of cigarettes and opioids due to effects of cross-drug withdrawal. Nicotine and opioid dependence severity, impulsive choice, and riskiness were also positively related to drug purchasing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).