The Economics of Drug Abuse: a Quantitative Assessment of Drug Demand

Abstract

Behavioral economic concepts have proven useful for an overall understanding of the regulation of behavior by environmental commodities and complements a pharmacological perspective on drug abuse in several ways. First, a quantitative assessment of drug demand, equated in terms of drug potency, allows meaningful comparisons to be made among drug reinforcers within and across pharmacological classes. Second, behavioral economics provides a conceptual framework for understanding key factors, both pharmacological and environmental, that contribute to reductions in consumption of illicit drugs. Finally, behavioral economics provides a basis for generalization from laboratory and clinical studies to the development of novel behavioral and pharmacological therapies.

Nicotine Reduction: Strategic Research Plan

“…The FDA and the Drug Enforcement Agency recognize that specific animal models are particularly informative when assessing abuse liability (Food and Drug Administration, 2010). The following animal models and techniques would be particularly useful in evaluating effects of reducing levels of nicotine: (a) Drug self-administration models that provide estimates of threshold reinforcing nicotine doses in adolescents and adults and factors that moderate them; (b) demand curve analysis and growthcurve analysis that provide quantitative techniques to facilitate detection of factors that moderate reduction and acquisition of self-administration, respectively (Greenwald & Hursh, 2006;Hursh, Galuska, Winger, & Woods, 2005;Hursh & Silberberg, 2008;Lanza, Donny, Collins, & Balster, 2004); (c) drug discrimination models that can be used to screen understudied or novel constituents for their own abuse potential or capability of enhancing nicotine's effects (Smith & Stolerman, 2009); (d) withdrawal models that allow for further delineation of the mechanisms underlying possible adverse consequences of reduction (e.g., Harris, Pentel, Burroughs, Staley, & Lesage, 2011); and (e) methods incorporating tobacco smoke, tobacco extracts, or other known tobacco constituents to facilitate research on the aggregate contribution of constituents to abuse liability (e.g., Harris, Stepanov, Pentel, & Lesage, 2012).…”

Impact of Tobacco Regulation on Animal Research: New Perspectives and Opportunities

“…For instance, a decrease in threshold could reflect an increase in potency, an increase in the reinforcing efficacy of nicotine, or both. Normalized demand curve analysis can measure changes in reinforcing efficacy per se independent of dose and potency, allowing analysis of the relative contribution of these two factors and facilitating comparison of demand across species (Hursh et al, 2005). Finally, demand curve analysis provides a simple and precise quantitative approach to measuring changes in reinforcing efficacy across a wide range of conditions (Hursh et al, 2005).…”

“…Demand is inelastic if consumption declines slowly (i.e., proportionally less) as unit price increases, or elastic if consumption declines rapidly (i.e., proportionally greater) as unit price increases. Elasticity of demand provides an index of the reinforcing or motivational efficacy of a drug, the extent to which an organism will defend a level of consumption as unit price increases (Bickel, Marsch, & Carroll, 2000;Hursh, Galuska, Winger, & Woods, 2005).…”

Effects of Varenicline on Abstinence and Smoking Reward Following a Programmed Lapse

“…The simulated cigarette consumption data allow for analysis of behavioral economic demand curves. This method provides a framework for quantifying multiple dimensions of drug reinforcement (e.g., Johnson & Bickel, 2006 ) and has been identifi ed as an increasingly important framework for assessing drug abuse liability ( Carter & Griffi ths, 2009 ;Hursh, Galuska, Winger, & Woods, 2005 ). Specifi cally, demand functions were fi t to these data (see Data Analysis section), resulting in two quantifi ed parameters: demand intensity ( Q 0 ), which is the number of cigarettes purchased as price is close to zero (preferred level of consumption with no price constraint), and demand elasticity ( α ), which is price sensitivity (the extent to which increases in cigarette price result in decreases in cigarette purchases).…”