Use of quantitative urinalysis in monitoring cocaine use.

Cocaine use is a serious social and economic problem for which no solution currently exists. Considerable efforts have been expended to develop medications and other treatments for cocaine abuse, including clinical trials of a number of pharmacologic agents and behavioral approaches (Stitzer and Higgins 1995; Tutton and Crayton 1993). The primary goal of drug abuse treatment is to have patients decrease or stop their cocaine use. Because illicit drug use is a covert activity, it is usually measured indirectly through urine toxicology screens. Thus, urinalysis has become the primary outcome variable in most clinical trials of cocaine abuse treatments.