Rational treatment of addiction.

Treatment of alcohol and drug addictions, which has been neglected medically for a long time, is currently sparked with optimism. Craving for alcohol can be treated with two newly registered drugs: naltrexone and acamprosate. New approaches to symptom relief during detoxification or during maintenance therapies are rationally based on experimental and clinical work. It is now clear that addictive drugs are surrogates of natural substances involved in the 'reward system'.