Held at Royal Free Hospital, London, December 1992.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Components of drug dependence : reinforcement, discrimination and adaptation -- Opiate receptors : the historical breakthrough in drug research -- Cannabinoid receptors : G-protein-mediated signal transduction mechanisms -- Psychostimulant drugs and a dopamine hypothesis regarding addiction : update on recent research -- Drugs of abuse : biochemical surrogates of specific aspects of natural reward? -- Nicotine dependence : Mechanisms and therapeutic strategies -- Benzodiazepine withdrawal : behavioural pharmacology and neurochemical changes -- Benzodiazepine dependence : a shadowy diagnosis -- Aspects of benzodiazepine receptor structure and function with relevance to drug tolerance and dependence -- Benzodiazepine tolerance and dependence : GABA receptor complex locus of change -- Pharmacogenetic approaches to drug dependence -- Animal models of alcoholism : genetic strategies and neurochemical mechanisms -- Adaptive changes in numbers of calcium channels in drug dependence -- Overview : unanswered