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Nature 400, 317-319 (22 July 1999) | doi:10.1038/22432

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Behavioural pharmacology:  Breaking the chain of addiction

Gary Aston-Jones1 & Jonathan Druhan1

Two hallmarks of drug addiction are the compulsive nature of substance use and the high propensity for relapse. Relapse is, in fact, so prevalent that attempts to stop using drugs often lead to repeated cycles of detoxification followed by a return to compulsive substance abuse.

  1. Gary Aston-Jones and Jonathan Druhan are in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, VAMC (151), University and Woodland Avenues, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
    e-mail: Email: gaj@mail.med.upenn.edu