Addictive drugs cause long-lasting changes in connectivity from inputs onto ventral tegmental area dopamine cells (VTA DA ) that contribute to drug-induced behavioral adaptations. However, it is not known which inputs are altered. Here, we used a rabies virus (RABV)-based mapping strategy to quantify RABV-labeled inputs to VTA cells after a single exposure to one of a variety of misused drugs – cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, morphine, and nicotine – and compared the relative global input labeling across conditions. We observed that all tested addictive drugs elicited similar input changes onto VTA DA cells, in particular onto DA cells projecting to the lateral shell of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala. In addition, repeated administration of ketamine/xylazine to induce anesthesia induces a change in inputs to VTA DA cells that is similar to but different from those elicited by a single exposure to addictive drugs, suggesting that caution should be taken when using ketamine/xy