Drug-cue reactivity is one of the most common paradigms employed in human substance abuse literature, largely because drug cue-induced craving is one of the most robust factors that lead to continued use and relapse across substances. Our discussions on treatable-targets for addiction typically focus on the frontal and striatal areas that are activated by drug-related cues. The results of the present investigation however highlight the importance of another often overlooked brain region that is consistently activated by drug cues relative to non-drug cues, the primary and secondary visual cortices. Although the role of the visual cortex in addiction is seldom discussed at scientific meetings, the vast majority of drug cue exposure studies (86%) found significant occipital cortex activation in substance users who were exposed to visual drug cues compared to neutral cues. Activation likelihood estimation revealed that this activity is present in distinct areas of BA 17 and BA 19. Furthermore this activity was observed across multiple drug classes (alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, tobacco). Thus, it appears that addiction can directly affect primary sensory cortex, suggesting that the effects of drug
