ENDOGENOUS OPIOIDS AND ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE - OPIOID ALKALOIDS AND THE PROPENSITY TO DRINK ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

Rats consume alcoholic beverages in a wide variety of circumstances. O pioid antagonists, naloxone and naltrexone, decrease intake of many in gesta, including alcoholic beverages. Small doses of morphine increase intake of alcoholic beverages. Further, the effects of small doses of morphine are persistent and there is no sign that tolerance to morphi ne's ability to increase alcohol intake develops as seen with morphine 's ability to produce analgesia. Morphine's effects can combine with o ther variables that enhance intake of alcoholic beverages to produce v ery large daily intakes of ethanol. These generalizations, from a larg e number of separate experiments, support the conclusion that alcoholi sm is a special case of an ingestive disorder involving opioidergic sy stems.