Inhalant Abuse: A Volatile Research Agenda, 129

Basic Science Solvent Abuse
Research Issues
Richard A. Meisch
Pryor’s chapter gives an excellent overview of basic science research findings
concerning inhalant abuse. He also describes his own innovative research
program. Pryor and colleagues pioneered research in this area, and his
description of how this research evolved is very interesting. In fact it is a classic
case history of the development of a research program. It is hard to
overemphasize the difficulties encountered when attempting to begin
research in a new area: Essentially no one knows how important variables
should be manipulated and no one knows what measures should be made.
Initial progress is often slow, and results can be discouraging. In spite of these
difficulties, Pryor and his colleagues persisted with their studies, and the
results are very important and form the foundation for future studies.
I want to discuss three aspects of this area of research. The first relates to the
identification of solvent abuse as a member of a larger class of behavior,
namely, drug reinforced behavior. The second suggests some differences in
emphasis on research goals, and the third reemphasizes some of Pryor’s
recommendations.
Solvent Abuse as a Drug Reinforced Behavior
There are a number of views about drug abuse. Often drug abuse is considered
to be illegal behavior. If the essential feature of drug abuse is illegal
behavior, then the major approach should be law enforcement. Others con-
259