# Can animals be addicted to drugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599 "2006-01-12T01:03:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/1 "2006-01-12T01:03:54Z")
Can a monkey be addicted to alcohol if given a chance? Do certain bugs or plant eating mammals eat plants for their intoxicating effecst and not for nutritional content? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/2 "2006-01-12T01:12:31Z")
Yes they can. There are hundreds of addiction studies in animals with the most common research animal being rats for practical reasons. Animals can get addicted to most of the substances that humans get physically addicted to. Some earlier studies let addicted rats complete tasks like timed bar presses to get a dose of the drug. Different schedules can end with everything up to fatal overdoses. Did you have anything more specific in mind? ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/3 "2006-01-12T01:13:45Z")
> [@BluePitbull](#): > > Can a monkey be addicted to alcohol if given a chance? Do certain bugs or plant eating mammals eat plants for their intoxicating effecst and not for nutritional content? IIRC there is a Monkey that is addicted to cigarettes. I’ll try out my google-fu to see if I can get more details ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/4 "2006-01-12T01:16:07Z")
I return [victorious](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/21/eveningnews/main690053.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/5 "2006-01-12T01:20:24Z")
So, how does a monkey get a light in the middle of the zoo? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/6 "2006-01-12T01:24:38Z")
> [@treis](#): > > So, how does a monkey get a light in the middle of the zoo? Well, to be honest, the signs just say not to _feed_ them. It says nothing about supporting any of their habits. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/7 "2006-01-12T01:50:51Z")
> [@BluePitbull](#): > > Do certain bugs or plant eating mammals eat plants for their intoxicating effecst and not for nutritional content? Well, I’m not sure if there is any nutritional benefit, but dem cats shaawww do like dem catnip. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/8 "2006-01-12T02:08:58Z")
> [@](#): > > So, how does a monkey get a light in the middle of the zoo? Possible they toss him lighters or matches, and he’s figured out how to use them? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/9 "2006-01-12T02:12:37Z")
I’m led to believe that pigs are bad to become alcoholics if given the chance. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/10 "2006-01-12T09:26:55Z")
I read something about monkeys and elephants in Vietnam during the war seeking out opium poppies and fermented fruit in response to the stress of the bombing raids. So, behaving a lot like the soliders. And then there were the rats who were given the choice between a lever that released food and one that released cocaine. Cocaine won every time. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/11 "2006-01-13T01:04:26Z")
I saw a documentary about the monkies on a tropical island that would steal alcoholic drinks from the tourists. They said that some of them drink in relative moderation, while some compulsively drink all that they could get. It was supposed that it had a bearing on alcoholism being genetic. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/12 "2006-01-13T03:20:38Z")
I think I read once that horses that crib (chew on stalls, posts, etc., some also grab ahold of something with their front teeth and inhale sharply) do it because it stimulates dopamine to be released into their systems. I got it out of Western Horseman, IIRC, so no idea if this is correct or not. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/13 "2006-01-13T03:23:18Z")
Sorry, I meant to add that it isn’t drug addiction per se, but it’s an addictive behavior. I think. IANAPsychologist. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/14 "2006-01-13T03:27:14Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > I think I read once that horses that crib (chew on stalls, posts, etc., some also grab ahold of something with their front teeth and inhale sharply) do it because it stimulates dopamine to be released into their systems. I got it out of Western Horseman, IIRC, so no idea if this is correct or not. That may be true. My SIL’s horse died doing that. Apparently it can twist intestines and cause a hideous death if they do it enough. She tried with all her might to break him of it but couldn’t I hope he got some joy out of it at least. ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-animals-be-addicted-to-drugs/339599/15 "2006-01-13T16:10:18Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > And then there were the rats who were given the choice between a lever that released food and one that released cocaine. Cocaine won every time. These experiments are fatally flawed, in that the rat chooses the drug because there’s fuck all else to do. I refer you to Dr Bruce K. Alexander’s [Rat Park](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park) experiment, where rats in a ratty-utopian environment shunned all manner of drugs when offered, and even pre-addicted rats would soon lose their habits when introduced to the colony.