FACILITATION OF HUMAN TOBACCO SELF‐ADMINISTRATION BY ETHANOL: A BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS¹

Abstract

T'he effect of ethaniol oin the cigarette smoking of alcoholic subjects was studied in a resi(leintial laboratory. Durinlg daily 6-hr sessions, cigarettes were obtained either by request to the ward staff or by operation of a lever (fixed-ratio 5 or 10). In a mixed sequence across (lays, sessions involved inigestion of either vehicle (orange juice) alonie or vehicle plus ethaniol (133.7 g). Dtirinig ethanol sessions, the rate of cigarette smoking increased from 26%y, to 117% of vehicle levels. A series of control studies eliminated a number of potential lbehavioral mechanismiis for the observed effect anid indicated that the ethanol-induced increase in cigarette smokinlg occutrred( tinder a variety of experimental conditions: (1) whel smoking cotild not occur coiicuirrently with ethanol or vehicle consumption; (2) when stIbjects were not allowed to socialize; (3) when ingestion of ethanol or vehicle was schedtiled for a ntzmber of consecuitive (lays; (4) when variotls doses of ethanol were administered under blind condlitionis. In control experiments, weighing unsmoked tobacco and counting the ntimber of puiffs per cigarette indicated the effect was not due to smoking less of each cigarette. The effect was not limited to the experimental sessions alone, since total daily smoking was higher on ethanol days than vehicle days.

Modeling the effect of alcohol on smoking lapse behavior

“…The current study also demonstrated that once subjects decided to 'give in' and smoke, they smoked more cigarettes if they had consumed alcohol, supporting other human laboratory findings that alcohol increases smoking behavior (Griffiths et al, 1976;Mintz et al, 1985;Mitchell et al, 1995). In contrast to our results, Rose et al (2004) did not demonstrate any effect of alcohol on the number of cigarettes smoked.…”

The role of human drug self-administration procedures in the development of medications

“…Soon thereafter, the study of drug self-administration via operant responding was initiated in human research volunteers (Mendelson and Mello, 1966). One of the simplest operant schedules is the fixed-ratio (FR) schedule, in which participants make a fixed number of responses in order to obtain drug (e.g., Griffiths et al, 1976). For example, after every 200 responses on a manipulandum, participants receive a fixed amount of drug (FR200).…”

The effect of chewing gum on tobacco withdrawal

“…Epstein and Jennings (1986), demonstrated that alcohol, like coffee, can set t e occasion for increased smoking. Griffiths, Bigelow, and Liebson (1976), looked at the effect of alcohol (ethanol) on the cigarette smoking of alcoholic subjects. In this study, cigarettes were obtained either by request or by operation of a lever (FR 5 or 10) during daily 6 hour sessions.…”