> When rats are put in normal laboratory settings they choose drugs over food and water if given the choice. We've shown that cocaine addiction can be mitigate

> When rats are put in normal laboratory settings they choose drugs over food and water if given the choice. We've shown that cocaine addiction can be mitigated or altogether avoided by enough positive social interaction. When the benefits that cocaine would provide to the dopamine system are already present from other external sources, the rat is much less likely to self-administrate cocaine to "self-medicate", and this is likely further modulated by if medicating inhibits the rat's ability to continue getting dopamine from other sources. It's clear that psychosocial health is a huge factor in avoiding addiction. Another huge factor more relevant to today's era is post-capitalist existentialism, which we can't really test with lab rats but I'll be damned if it doesn't make me want to erode away inside a warm fuzzy ball of artificial pleasure sometimes. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-018-0246-6 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-018-0246-6