Six‐Month Follow‐Up of Short‐Term Pharmacotherapy for Cocaine Dependence

This 6‐month follow‐up study of 43 of 72 patients who entered a 6‐week randomized clinical trial of pharmacotherapy for cocaine dependence found that self‐reported cocaine abstinence during the 6 months was significantly greater in patients treated with desipramine (44%) than in those treated with lithium (19%) or placebo (27%). The placebo group had more occurrences of depression (36% vs. 6%) and daily alcohol abuse (36% vs. 15%) than the medicated groups. The ability to abstain from cocaine use during the clinical trial was the strongest predictor of continued abstinence during the follow‐up, which showed that 53% remained abstinent after 6 months.