EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL CUES ON SMOKING URGES AND TOPOGRAPHY AMONG ALCOHOLIC MEN

Although the prevalence of smoking among alcoholics ranges up to 97%, little is known about mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of smoki ng and alcohol use, or the role tobacco may play in alcohol treatment recovery. Adult male alcoholics in treatment (n = 30) were randomly as signed to visual and olfactory exposure either to alcohol cues or to c ontrol cues, and then were allowed to smoke while continuing visual ex posure to the same cues. Exposure to alcohol cues resulted in signific antly greater self-reported urge to drink and urge to smoke but had no significant effect on the topography of smoking behavior, When varian ce due to urge to smoke was controlled, greater urge to drink correlat ed negatively with number of cigarette puffs. The results provide some support for a priming hypothesis of tobacco's role on alcoholism reco very. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.