In the U.S., more than half of drug overdose deaths now involves stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine.

There are no medications to treat stimulant addiction, but there is a behavioral treatment that works.

Contingency management, which was developed by psychologists, involves giving people rewards such as money or gift cards in return for negative

drug tests. It's a simple idea, yet despite decades of research showing the contingency management

works, relatively few people who could benefit from it are able to access it. Now momentum is

building to put it into practice at a larger scale. So why exactly do these interventions

work? What are the psychological principles they're based on? Can contingency management be used

to treat other addictions such as alcohol or tobacco? How does it interact with other treatments? And what are

the barriers to moving it from research labs to the real world at large scale.

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association

that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills.

We have two guests today. First is Dr. Lara Kaufland, a licensed clinical psychologist and an associate professor at the University

of Michigan Addiction Center.

Her research aims to increase access to effective substance use prevention and treatments,

especially for hard-to-reach and underserved populations.

She's published more than 100 research articles,

including work on contingency management interventions for stimulant use disorder,

smoking cessation, and alcohol use disorder.

My second guest is Dr. Michael McDonald,

a psychologist and professor at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University.

He's also director of the university's Prism Collaborative,

which stands for promoting research initiatives in substance use and mental health,

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