Abstract
The author explores the nature of the relationship between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and psychoactive substance use disorder (PSUD). Researchers of ADHD in children and adolescents have posited that the development of conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder is an unavoidable step in the path to PSUD. Some investigators of adult substance abusers do not subscribe to this opinion, and others give considerable weight to the self-medication theory. me choice of cocaine as a preferred drug for self-medication by adults with attention deficit disorder has been specifically reported. me author presents a critical review of this issue as well as methodological, nosological, and interpretive problems, and intervention implications.