Individual differences in the subjective response to smoked cocaine in humans

The individual variables that determine the effects of cocaine in humans ar e not well understood. In this study, we examined the relationship between the subjective response to cocaine and selected individual variables in coc aine-dependent participants. A single 0.4-mg/kg dose of smoked cocaine was received by 75 smoked cocaine users. The variables associated with increase d subjective response to cocaine were male sex, presence of alcohol use, hi gher baseline Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores, and duration of cocai ne use. The change in heart rate and diastolic blood pressure in response t o cocaine delivery were also positively associated with the subjective resp onse to cocaine. In contrast, body weight, years of schooling, and the chan ge in the heart rate with the expectation of cocaine delivery were associat ed with a diminished subjective response to cocaine. The importance of thes e variables in maintaining the cocaine use behavior needs to be studied fur ther.