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Cocaine Habit Might Speed Brain Aging
Posted 24 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, April 24 – Chronic cocaine use may speed up brain aging, a new study suggests. British researchers scanned the brains of 60 people with cocaine dependence and 60 people with no history of substance abuse, and found that those with cocaine dependence had greater levels of age-related loss of brain gray matter. The cocaine users lost about 3.08 milliliters (ml) of brain volume a year, nearly twice the rate of about 1.69 ml per year seen in the healthy people, the University of Cambridge researchers said. The increased decline in brain volume in the cocaine users was most noticeable in the prefrontal and temporal cortex, regions associated with attention, decision-making, self-regulation and memory, the investigators noted in a university news release. "As we age, we all lose gray matter. However, what we have seen is that chronic cocaine users lose gray matter at a significantly ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Fetal Cocaine Exposure May Not Affect Kids' Academics: Study
Posted 7 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, March 7 – Exposure to cocaine, tobacco or marijuana before birth does not cause children to score lower on academic tests, according to a new study. Prenatal alcohol exposure, however, even in children with no signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, was associated with lower scores at age 11 in math reasoning and spelling, Boston University researchers found. The negative associations between intrauterine alcohol exposure and lower test scores are significant, the researchers said, because the study controlled for other substances, and the children did not have fetal alcohol syndrome and had not been born preterm, all of which could potentially decrease test scores. In conducting the study, which was published online in the journal Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, researchers collected academic achievement test scores from 119 low-income 11-year-olds enrolled in a study on ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Hard Drug Use in Middle Age Could Prove Fatal, Study Finds
Posted 3 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Feb. 3 – People who start using hard drugs – such as cocaine, opiates and amphetamines – as young adults and continue to use them into their 50s have a fivefold increased risk of early death, researchers report. The finding is from an analysis of hard drug use among 4,300 U.S. adults who took part in a long-term study of cardiovascular disease and risk factors. The participants, including blacks, whites, men and women, were recruited when they were 18 to 30 years of age and followed from 1985 to 2006. The University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers compared those who stopped drug use early in life to those who continued, and calculated their risk of premature death. "Fourteen percent of the people in the study reported recent hard-drug use at least once, and of these, half continued using well into middle age," lead author Dr. Stefan Kertesz, an associate professor in the ... Read more
Related support groups: Suboxone, Methadone, Oxycodone, Percocet, OxyContin, Hydrocodone, Vicodin, Opiate Dependence, Morphine, Norco, Fentanyl, Lortab, Subutex, Opana, Codeine
Global Study Finds Drug Abuse Highest in Richer Nations
Posted 6 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Jan. 6 – About 200 million people worldwide use illicit drugs each year, and use is highest in wealthier nations, a new study shows. The researchers also found that the burden of health problems caused by illicit drug use in developed countries is similar to that caused by alcohol, but much less than that caused by tobacco. Experts in the United States weren't surprised by the numbers, and said that more needs to be done to reduce Americans' dependence on illegal drugs. The study "serves to confirm something addiction experts have known for some time – that the extent of illicit drug use and abuse in developed countries like the United States has reached epidemic proportions," said Dr. Jeffrey T. Parsons, a professor in the department of psychology at Hunter College, in New York City. The analysis of available data from a team of Australian researchers estimates that there are ... Read more
Related support groups: Oxycodone, OxyContin, Vicodin, Opiate Dependence, Norco, Lortab, Roxicodone, Drug Dependence, Substance Abuse, Lorcet 10/650, Vicodin ES, Acetaminophen/Hydrocodone, Anexsia, Lorcet Plus, Vicodin HP
Smart Kids More Likely to Try Illicit Drugs as Young Adults
Posted 15 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Nov. 15 – Brainy children are at increased risk for illegal drug use when they're young adults, a new study says. Researchers analyzed data from nearly 8,000 people in the ongoing 1970 British Cohort Study of drug use, education and socioeconomic status. The participants' IQ scores were checked at ages 5 and 10 years, and their use of illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine, uppers, downers, LSD and heroin) was self-reported at ages 16 and 30. At age 30, about 35 percent of men and nearly 16 percent of women had used marijuana in the previous year, and 8.6 percent of men and 3.6 percent of women had used cocaine during that time. In general, men were twice as likely as women to use drugs. The investigators found that 30-year-old men who had high IQ scores at age 5 were about 50 percent more likely than those who had low IQ scores to have used amphetamines, ecstasy and several ... Read more
Related support groups: Opiate Dependence, Drug Dependence, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, Toxic Reactions Incl Drug and Substance Abuse, Benzodiazepine Overdose, Substance Abuse - Cocaine, Acute Alcohol Intoxication
Drug Use May Play Role in 25% of Driver Deaths, Study Finds
Posted 25 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, June 24 – Among U.S. drivers who died in a car crash, about one in four tested positive for drugs, a new study has found. Most commonly, the drivers were found to have been using marijuana and stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines, and each of these drugs accounted for one-quarter of the positive tests, according to the report published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. For their study, the researchers analyzed federal government drug test information from 44,000 drivers who died between 1998 and 2009. It's not certain that the drugs used by the drivers were directly responsible for the fatal crashes, the researchers said. For example, some people who use illegal drugs may simply be reckless drivers, they explained. But they noted that a recent government study found that 14 percent of U.S. drivers who were randomly pulled over tested ... Read more
Related support groups: Adderall, Amphetamine, Adderall XR, Methamphetamine, Desoxyn, Cannabis, Amphetamine/Dextroamphetamine, Substance Abuse - Cocaine, Desoxyn Gradumet
Tainted Cocaine Tied to Severe Skin Reactions
Posted 23 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, June 23 – Cocaine contaminated with levamisole, a cheap and widely available drug used to deworm livestock, could result in a U.S. public health epidemic, experts warn. In a report released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, doctors revealed that patients in Los Angeles and New York who smoked or snorted cocaine diluted or "cut" with the veterinary drug developed serious skin reactions. Six patients developed patches of purple necrotic skin on their ears, nose and cheeks, as well as other parts of their body, the doctors reported. In some instances, the cocaine users suffered permanent scarring as a result of using the tainted drug. Two similar cases were also reported in San Francisco along with others that reported additional side effects, including agranulocytosis – a potentially ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine, Cocaine Topical
Cocaine-Related Heart Damage May Be 'Silent'
Posted 22 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, June 22 – Heart damage caused by heavy cocaine use can occur without producing any symptoms, according to a new study. Researchers assessed the heart health of 30 long-term cocaine users, average age 37, who entered a drug rehabilitation program 48 hours after they last used cocaine. They had been using cocaine for an average of 12 years and consumed about 5.5 grams of cocaine per day. Snorting was the most common way of using cocaine, but 10 said they injected intravenously and two said they smoked it (crack cocaine). More than half of the those addicted to cocaine also used other substances – such as heroin and alcohol – and one in five was infected with either hepatitis C or HIV. Heart function was normal in all the daily cocaine users, but 12 had localized abnormalities, 83 percent had structural damage, and 47 percent had swelling (edema) in the lower left ventricle. ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Helping Fellow Addicts Can Help Maintain Sobriety
Posted 5 Feb 2011 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, Feb. 3 – By helping other alcoholics and addicts stay clean, addicts can actually help themselves stay on the wagon, a Case Western expert suggests. Maria E. Pagano, an associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, finds that addicts who offer fellow addicts structured support through participation in community service programs help to reduce the pull of egocentrism and/or selfishness that some researchers believe is a root cause of addiction. "The research indicates that getting active in service helps alcoholics and other addicts become sober and stay sober, and suggests this approach is applicable to all treatment-seeking individuals with a desire to not drink or use drugs," Pagano said in a university news release. "Helping others in the program of AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] has forged a therapy based on the kinship of common ... Read more
Related support groups: Opiate Dependence, Drug Dependence, Alcohol Dependence, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Vaccine Protects Mice From Cocaine's Effects, Study Finds
Posted 5 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 5 – New animal research suggests that cocaine addiction might be treatable with a vaccine that has been engineered from pieces of the common cold virus in combination with a cocaine-like substance that mimics cocaine's molecular composition. In mice, the vaccine appears to provoke an effective and long-lasting antibody immune response, attacking cocaine molecules and keeping them from reaching the brain where they would normally trigger the drug's classic hyperactive response. The study, funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, is published in the Jan. 4 online edition of Molecular Therapy. If successful in people, the vaccine would be the first of its kind and could offer cocaine addicts – and perhaps even nicotine, heroin and opiate addicts as well – a simple way to kick their habit, according to study author Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chairman and professor ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Genetic Trait May Predict Cocaine Sensitivity
Posted 29 Dec 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Dec. 28 – A new study suggests that many white people carry a genetic trait that boosts the risk they'll develop an extreme and possibly deadly cocaine habit. The trait appears to triple the odds of becoming susceptible to severe cocaine abuse that leads to death from an overdose, compared to non-carriers. Researchers found signs of the genetic variation in more than 40 percent of brain samples taken from whites who abused cocaine. It was in just 19 percent of whites who didn't take drugs. Overall, the genetic variant showed up in one in five samples from whites in the control group (and one in two to three samples in the cocaine overdose group), compared to one in eight African Americans, in whom the variant is less common. The variations affect a neurotransmitter called dopamine that plays a role in helping the brain to feel euphoria when people take cocaine. "We now have ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Cocaine Addiction Vaccine Shows Limited Success
Posted 16 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Oct. 5 – A vaccine to help cocaine addicts beat their habit is showing some effect but is far from a cure, researchers report. Slightly more than one-third of participants in a new study developed desired immune system antibodies to the illicit drug and, in this group, cocaine use did go down. But the effects were only sustained for two months, the researchers found. Experts were heartened by the finding but still circumspect in predicting how they might benefit active addicts. "The results are promising, to be sure, but still the majority of participants did not respond," said Jeffrey T. Parsons, professor and chair of psychology at Hunter College in New York City. "It's also important to point out that all participants were also on methadone maintenance and cognitive behavioral therapy, so the best possible role this vaccine could play in the future of the treatment of ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Rat Study Sheds Light on Cocaine Addiction
Posted 10 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, July 9 – Researchers report that they've discovered tiny molecules that appear to forestall cocaine addiction in rats and may have the same effect in humans. The findings, reported in the July 8 issue of the journal Nature, are preliminary, but they "offer promise for the development of a totally new class of anti-addiction medications," said study senior author Paul J. Kenny, an associate professor at Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla., in a news release from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which funded the study. The molecules at issue, known as microRNAs, are a part of RNA and help the body follow the genetic instructions in DNA. In the study, researchers gave cocaine to rats and discovered that it boosted levels of a specific sequence of microRNA in the brain. The rats disliked cocaine more as the levels went up, but liked it more as they went ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
Contaminated Cocaine Can Cause Flesh to Rot
Posted 1 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, June 1 – Cocaine abusers – already at risk for an abnormal heartbeat, blood pressure problems, hallucinations, convulsions and stroke – can add another potential health complication to the list: rotting flesh. "If you are a user of cocaine, you should be aware that some of the cocaine is not clean and can have other agents that can cause you to have a low white-cell count or skin tissue death," said Dr. Ghinwa Dumyati, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Rochester and an epidemiologist for the Monroe County Health Department in New York. In a report in the June 1 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, Dumyati and doctors from the University of Rochester Medical Center discuss two cases involving women with a history of cocaine use who came to the hospital for help when they noticed purplish plaques on their cheeks, earlobes, legs, thighs and buttocks. ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine
As Temperatures Rise, So Do Cocaine Deaths
Posted 4 Mar 2010 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, March 4 – New research suggests that cocaine overdose deaths in New York City go up with the temperature: They're more likely when the average weekly temperature goes past 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The findings, published online March 3 in the journal Addiction, are based on death statistics in the city from 1990 through 2006. The increase in accidental overdose deaths during warmer temperatures appears to be because cocaine raises body temperature and makes it harder for the cardiovascular system to cool the body, according to background information from the journal's publisher. When using cocaine, people also tend to be less apt to comprehend that they're hot and need to do something to cool off. The research clarifies earlier findings that had linked cocaine overdose deaths to much higher temperatures – those over about 88 degrees Fahrenheit. The study estimated that the ... Read more
Related support groups: Substance Abuse - Cocaine