Bags Of Heroin Research Articles

Risk-sensitive foraging theory elucidates risky choices made by heroin addicts.

The behavioral process of risk-sensitive foraging (RSF) specifies that the level of satiation or deprivation determines choice between a constant and variable quantity of food. Specifically, RSF stipulates that organisms experiencing satiation and deprivation prefer constant (risk-averse) and variable (risk-prone) choices, respectively. The relevance of this behavioral process to risky choices of opioid-dependent patients is examined in this study. Thirty adult opioid-dependent out-patients made hypothetical choices between constant and variable heroin sources with equivalent means. Preferences for constant (e.g. three bags of heroin) and variable heroin sources (e.g. on average produces three bags of heroin, but vary from one to five bags of heroin on any instance) were assessed using questionnaires that manipulated the amount, delay to receipt and drug potency of heroin across approximately 20 levels. Subjects made choices between constant and variable options after hearing scripts describing the signs and symptoms of opioid satiation and opioid deprivation. Consistent with the prediction of RSF, subjects purchased significantly more hypothetical heroin from a variable source when exposed to an opioid-deprived script than an opioid-satiated script. This pattern was observed across manipulations of heroin amount, delay to receipt of heroin and heroin potency. Selection of the variable option increased as a function of magnitude under the deprived conditions. The selection of the variable option generally did not increase as a function of magnitude under the satiated conditions except when delay to heroin delivery increased. As delay increased, selection of the variable option increased under the satiated script, but at a lower level observed with the deprived script. These data suggest that risky choices of heroin-dependent individuals can be understood and predicted with the application of RSF theory. This research suggests that an evolutionarily old behavioral process may contribute to the risky behavior of the drug-dependent.

Characteristics of Adolescents in Residential Treatment for Heroin Dependence

A retrospective review of the clinical charts of 97 adolescents who had received residential treatment for heroin dependence was conducted to determine predictors of heroin use. The average age for the adolescent patients reviewed was 17 years. Almost half of the adolescents (48%) were female and over half of the adolescents (53.6%) used heroin intravenously. Both males and females had substantial heroin habits, but differing amounts of use. Boys used an average of six bags of heroin per day and girls used an average of four bags of heroin per day. Using gender, age, number of heroin dependence symptoms, and other substances as predictors, 64.21% of the adolescents were correctly classified as injectors or noninjectors of heroin. Heroin appears to be a significant drug of abuse among these predominately white, middle class, suburban adolescents.

Modeling drug consumption in the clinic using simulation procedures: Demand for heroin and cigarettes in opioid-dependent outpatients.

Use of a time- and cost-efficient simulation procedure to assess reinforcement efficacy in humans was explored in the present study. Opioid-dependent outpatients completed questionnaires asking how many cigarettes or bags of heroin they would purchase across a range of prices. Reported consumption patterns conformed to a quantitative model that has been successful in accounting for data obtained in studies using real rather than hypothetical consequences, suggesting the self-report data may have been a valid proxy for observations of actual consumption patterns. Simulation procedures may thus be a useful supplement to traditional operant methods for the assessment of reinforcement efficacy in humans, particularly in situations where the use of operant methods is logistically difficult or ethically questionable. The relationship between behavioral-economic and traditional measures of reinforcement efficacy is also discussed.