Acute behavioral and cardiac effects of cocaine and alcohol combinations in humans

Abstract

Subjects received acute doses of orally administered alcohol (0-1.0 g/kg) and intranasal cocaine (4-96 mg/70 kg) alone and in combination in two experiments. Results generally were consistent across both experiments. Cocaine administered alone improved Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) performance, increased subject ratings of stimulant-like effects, heart rate and blood pressure, and decreased skin temperature. Alcohol administered alone disrupted DSST performance, increased ratings of drunkenness, heart rate and skin temperature, and decreased blood pressure. Combining cocaine and alcohol attenuated the disruptions in DSST performance observed with alcohol alone, and either did not change or attenuated the improvements in performance observed with cocaine alone. Combining the drugs also attenuated effects observed with the drugs alone on skin temperature and, to a lesser extent, blood pressure. By contrast, drug combinations increased heart rate above levels observed when cocaine or alcohol were administered alone. Effects of the drug combinations on subject ratings were variable.

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (Ecstasy) and Alcohol Interactions in Humans: Psychomotor Performance, Subjective Effects, and Pharmacokinetics

“…A number studies in the laboratory setting have assessed the interaction between alcohol and stimulants with inconclusive results, including the following combinations: ethanol and caffeine (Kerr et al, 1991), ethanol andcocaine (PerezReyes andJeffcoat, 1992;Farré et al, 1993Farré et al, , 1997Higgins et al, 1993;McCance-Katz et al, 1993), and ethanol and dextroamphetamine or metamphetamine Mendelson et al, 1995). Although in some studies, stimulants reduced the intoxication ratings, the drunkenness scores, or the deleterious effects of alcohol on psychomotor performance, significant pharmacological changes were not found in other investigations.…”

Comparison in humans of the potency and pharmacokinetics of intravenously injected cocaethylene and cocaine

“…Our clinical studies have shown, however, that the ingestion of ethanol before cocaine snorting significantly increased cocaine plasma concentrations (i.e., its bioavailability) and augmented the subjective and tachycardic effects of cocaine prior to the appearance of cocaethylene in plasma (Perez-Reyes and Jeffcoat 1992). Despite minor differences in experimental procedures, our findings have been corroborated by the results reported by other investigators (Foltin and Fischman 1989;Farre et al 1993;Higgins et al 1993;McCance-Katz, et al 1993). In view of these consistent findings and of the considerations previously discussed, it is likely that a greater contributor to the adverse effects of the combined use of ethanol and cocaine is the observed ethanol-induced increase of cocaine plasma concentrations.…”

d -Amphetamine increases choice of cigarette smoking over monetary reinforcement

“…If that were the case, one would not predict a systematic shift in preference for a particular option as was demonstrated in this study. As previously reviewed by others (Katz 1990;Spiga and Roache 1997;Higgins and Hughes 1998), concurrent schedule procedures are a particularly valid measure of drug reinforcement. An important implication of Herrnstein's matching law (1970) is that the reinforcing effects of particular events can only be usefully understood and quantified relative to the effects of other available reinforcers.…”