The secret of substance addiction

London: More than desire, the presence of an old friend or listening to a familiar song triggers craving for alcohol or nicotine in people that ultimately leads to addiction, researchers report. The study found that unique person-specific cues appear to have a robust effect on craving addictive substances.

It also found that person-specific cues may have a longer effect on craving than more general substance-specific cues such as the presence of bottles, syringes or lighters. "This work opens the prospect of integrating individual markers, predictive of relapse in treatment programmes for better long-term prevention of relapse," said Melina Fatseas from the University of Bordeaux in France and first author of the study.