Reward programmes can be a bridge from the difficult days of early recovery to a better life, said Carla Rash, associate professor of medicine at UConn Health, who studies the method. It helps people make better decisions in the moment, tipping the scale when the immediate rewards of using drugs are difficult to resist.
People's efforts
The rewards can "provide a little bit of recognition for people's efforts," Rash said. For Casey Thompson, 41, of Colville, Washington, the first month after quitting meth was the worst. Without stimulants, he felt burned out and exhausted. "Even standing up, you could fall asleep," Thompson said. Earning gift cards for passing drug tests helped, he said. During his 12-week program, he received about $500 in Walmart gift cards he spent on food, shirts, socks and shampoo. He's a trained welder and is looking for work after a recent layoff. "I'm a different person than I was," said Thompson. "I was already planning on being clean, so it was just extra."
Some 150 studies in 30 years show rewards work better than counseling alone for addictions including cocaine, alcohol, tobacco and, when used alongside medications, opioids.
The method is grounded in brain science. Psychologists have known for years that people who prefer small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones are vulnerable to addiction. They may vow to quit each morning and start using again by afternoon. And neuroscientists have learned from imaging studies how addiction takes over the brain's reward center, hijacking dopamine pathways and robbing people of the ability to enjoy simple pleasures.
"It's very much using that same dopamine reward system that's the basis for addictions to promote healthy behavior change," said psychologist Stephen Higgins of the University of Vermont, who pioneered the method in 1991. His research shows it helps pregnant women quit smoking and improves the health of newborns.
"Biologically, the use of substances lights up the same part of the brain that is lit up when a person wins the lottery, falls in love or experiences something really positive and exciting," said psychologist Sara Becker of Northwestern University.
The same pathway is lit up if someone wins a reward. "That's part of what's powerful about these programs," Becker said.
Support has never been stronger. The Biden administration backs the method in its National Drug Control Strategy. This fall, California will launch a pilot program designed to reward $10 gift cards passing drug tests for stimulants. Oregon will use tax revenue from the state's legal marijuana industry to pay for similar incentives. Montana launched a program in March using a federal grant.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working to revise its guidance on how much government grant money can be spent on prizes, rewards and cash cards. Researchers say the current $75 limit per patient is arbitrary and ineffective and should be raised to $599.
The method "is a widely studied and proven intervention that has been successful in treating people with a variety of substance use disorders," said Dr. Yngvild K. Olsen, who directs the U.S. government's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
Reward programs can be low tech - slips of paper drawn from a fish bowl - or high tech - using "smart" debit cards programmed so they cannot be spent at liquor stores or converted to cash at an ATM.
Maureen Walsh, 54, is a Philadelphia flower shop owner who stays off opioids with help from a smartphone app called DynamiCare. When she passes a saliva test, she earns cash on a smart card. She uses the cash to treat herself to a new pair of shoes or make a donation to a favorite cause.