INCREASED VALUE OF SUBSTANCES OR DECREASING ALTERNATIVES? BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

COVID-19 offers a chance to test the Reinforcer Pathology (RP) model through the effects of social constraints on the motivation to use drugs. Aims. This study aimed to empirically assess the RP model in the context of a cross-sectional online survey in Spain. Method. During the strictest period of confinement (14th March-12th April 2020), 203 participants provided measures on past 30-day use of legal and illegal substances and responded to hypothetical alcohol and cigarette purchase tasks. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to inform on pre- and intra-pandemic substance use patterns. Breakpoint (i.e., price at which consumption ceases), elasticity (i.e., sensitivity of demand to rises in costs) and intensity (i.e., unrestricted consumption) were used as indicators of substance use demand. Results. Past 30-day alcohol use decreased from 71.4% (145/203) to 50.7% (103/203), tobacco from 14.3% (30/203) to 12.8% (26/203), and cannabis from 8.9% (18/203) to 4.4% (9/203). Predictably, illegal substance use went from 1% (2/203) to 0%. Conclusions. Despite reductions in substance use, alcohol and tobacco reinforcement, as measured by intensity and breakpoint, slightly increased within the first month of confinement. Potentially beneficial nudges and intervention strategies are discussed from the preventive and treatment standpoint.