Trading the Use of Drugs for Money

This study contained 428 participants and they were all 18 years or older and were addicted to cocaine. All participants received an interview where they were rated on the severity of their issues according to the DSM-IV. The group was split up randomly into two different groups. One group was the standard care group and the other was the CM group. Both groups were presented with the opportunity to attend many different therapy classes and were all required to do drug testing throughout the 12 week study. The standard care group was given verbal affirmation for being free of drugs after being tested and could discuss issues if the test was positive. The CM group was given to opportunity to drawl for money for going to therapy and testing negative on the drug tests. They also took into consideration people who used cocaine from a young age compared to those using it at an older age. 

Major findings of this study were people that were in the CM group were abstinent from drugs much longer than the other group. The CM group results were 5.0 ± 0.4 weeks of remaining clean. The standard care group was abstinent for 3.4 ± 0.3 weeks. Also the age that the participants started using cocaine did not make a big difference in their treatment results, it was less than 0.58. 

This study was helpful for the future treatments for people dependent on cocaine or other drugs of abuse. People respond positively to receiving prizes (money) for their efforts of trying to reframe from the use of drugs. Prizes being implemented into the treatment process would help the clients be more interested in coming to the treatment sessions and ultimately becoming free or decreasing the addiction.  

Some limitations to this study are that they did not have a control group to compare their results to. Some people had psychiatric problems that were not consistent to the whole group. The last thing is that there were limited amount of people who had started using cocaine at an early age.    

Weiss L., Petry N. (2014). Substance abuse treatment patients with early onset cocaine use respond as well to contingency management interventions as those with later onset cocaine use. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 47(2), 146–150.

Abstract