The pharmacologic treatment of alcohol and cocaine abuse. Integration of recent findings into clinical practice.

The clinical evidence available to date does not yet support the routine use of pharmacologic interventions in the majority of cases of alcohol or cocaine abuse. The available data suggest, however, that interventions should be considered, especially in patients who relapse or drop out of treatment, in more difficult cases, and in instances in which there are associated psychiatric disorders. Education and prevention should be reconsidered as the important "treatments" they are today.