The goal of this study was to investigate the safety and utility of labetalol an alpha and beta adrenergic block, for cocaine dependence in humans. A total of 12 subjects were enrolled in this double blind, placebo controlled outpatient study. After baseline measures are obtained, three experimental sessions were held at least 2 days apart. Subjects were administered a single low (100 mg) or high dose of labetalol (200mg) or placebo on each of 3 experimental sessions. The labetalol doses were given in ascending order and the placebo treatment were randomly inserted into the sequence. A single dose of smoked cocaine (0.4 mg/kg) was administered 2 hrs after labetalol or placebo treatment. During the sessions, several subjective, behavioral and physiological measures were obtained.
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of labetalol treatment on the subjective and physiological effects of cocaine.