Use of monetary reinforcers by cocaine-dependent outpatients

Monetary reinforcers have not been widely used as contingent reinforcers in the treatment of drug abuse, despite their demonstrated effectiveness. Thi s is primarily due to concern that drug abusers will use monetary reinforce rs to procure drugs. The present study addressed this concern by examining 48 cocaine-dependent outpatients' biweekly self-reports of how they used th eir earned reinforcers. For each subject, their reinforcement usage was cla ssified into 12 higher-order categories and 34 subcategories. Usage proport ions were calculated for each. Results indicated that monetary reinforcers were used very infrequently to acquire drugs or alcohol (2%). Reinforcers w ere used primarily for daily life activities (25%) (e.g., food and gas), mo ney-related uses (18%) (e.g., savings and repaying debts), personal use (15 %) (e.g., cosmetics and clothes), and household items (11%) (e.g., rent and bills): These findings challenge the concern that drug abusers use monetar y reinforcers to purchase drugs and have important implications for the use of contingent monetary reinforcers in treatment settings. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science Inc. All rights reserved.