Nina Bai reveals a new study where "mice given a weeklong binge of alcohol were more likely to remember the environment in which they later received cocaine":
The type of learning that alcohol and other addictive drugs may promote is best described as "subconscious" reward-based conditioning, much like the classic example of Pavlov's dog. Just as the dog learns to associate the sound of a bell with food (a reward), a person may similarly associate a particular street corner in his hometown with cocaine use. After much repetition the dog salivates at the sound of a bell, and a cocaine addict craves a hit when he returns to the old hangout. The new insight from [neurobiologist Hitoshi] Morikawa's work is that alcoholics may be more vulnerable to reward-based conditioning—meaning they would learn new cravings sooner.
The Dish 