Thread: Cocaine news...read last paragraph

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug. Since you’re here in this forum, I assume you already know that; in fact, you probably know much of the stats concerning this drug. I will attempt to offer information not usually known or discussed.

In 2013, cocaine accounted for almost 6 percent of all admissions to drug abuse treatment programs. The majority of individuals (68 percent in 2013) who seek treatment for cocaine use smoke crack and are likely to be poly-drug users, meaning, they use more than one substance.

In 2014, there were about 1.5 million cocaine users aged 12 or older (0.6 percent of the population). Adults aged 18 to 25 years have a higher rate of cocaine use than any other age group, with 1.4 percent of young adults reporting past-month cocaine use.

Drug addiction is a complex disease involving changes in the brain as well as a wide range of social, familial, and other environmental factors; therefore, treatment of cocaine addiction must address this broad context as well as any other co-occurring mental disorders that require additional behavioral or pharmacological interventions.

Repeated cocaine use can produce addiction and other significant adverse health consequences. In 2014, about 913,000 Americans met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for dependence or abuse of cocaine (in any form) during the past 12 months.

Further, data from the 2011 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report showed that cocaine was involved in 505,224 of the nearly 1.3 million visits to emergency departments for drug misuse or abuse.

This translates to over one in three drug misuse or abuse-related emergency department visits (40 percent) that involved cocaine.

Cocaine causes heart attacks, strokes, or seizures—all of which can result in sudden death – no matter how it is ingested. Use of cocaine, like other drugs of abuse, induces long-term changes in the brain.

Although addiction researchers have focused on adaptations in the brain’s reward system, drugs also affect the brain pathways that respond to stress. Stress can contribute to cocaine relapse, and cocaine use disorders frequently co-occur with stress-related disorders.

Animals that have received cocaine repeatedly are more likely to seek the drug in response to stress, and the more of the drug they have taken, the more stress affects this behavior. Research suggests that cocaine elevates stress hormones.

Presently, there are no medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat cocaine addiction, though researchers are exploring a variety of neurobiological targets. Past research has primarily focused on dopamine, but scientists have also found that cocaine use induces changes in the brain related to other neurotransmitters—including serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), norepinephrine, and glutamate.

Researchers are currently testing medications that act at the dopamine D3 receptor, a subtype of dopamine receptor that is abundant in the emotion and reward centers of the brain. Other research is testing compounds (e.g., N-acetylcysteine) that restore the balance between excitatory (glutamate) and inhibitory (GABA) neurotransmission, which is disrupted by long-term cocaine use. Research in animals is also looking at medications (e.g., lorcaserin) that act at serotonin receptors.

Several medications marketed for other diseases show promise in reducing cocaine use within controlled clinical trials. Among these, disulfiram, which is used to treat alcoholism, has shown the most promise. Scientists do not yet know exactly how disulfiram reduces cocaine use, though its effects may be related to its ability to inhibit an enzyme that converts dopamine to norepinephrine. However, disulfiram does not work for everyone.

Many behavioral treatments for cocaine addiction have proven to be effective in both residential and outpatient settings. Behavioral therapies are often the only available and effective treatments for many drug problems, including stimulant addictions. However, the integration of behavioral and pharmacological treatments may ultimately prove to be the most effective approach.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective approach for preventing relapse. This approach helps patients develop critical skills that support long-term abstinence—including the ability to recognize the situations in which they are most likely to use cocaine, avoid these situations, and cope more effectively with a range of problems associated with drug use. This therapy can also be used in conjunction with other treatments, thereby maximizing the benefits of both.

Scientists have found promising results from telephone-based counseling as a low-cost method to deliver aftercare. For example, people who misused stimulants who participated in seven sessions of telephone counseling showed decreasing drug use during the first 3 months, whereas those who did not receive calls increased their use. Voucher incentives can boost patients' willingness to participate in telephone aftercare, doubling the number of sessions received according to one study.

Community-based recovery groups—such as Cocaine Anonymous—that use a 12-step program can also be helpful in maintaining abstinence. Participants may benefit from the supportive fellowship and from sharing with those experiencing common problems and issues.

Scientists have found that people who maintained cocaine abstinence for approximately 9 months showed gray matter levels similar to or greater than those of people who had never used the drug. The results suggest that abstinence helps restore the functioning of this brain circuit.

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publicatio...tand-addiction

So…the GOOD NEWS for you is that 9 months after you STOP USING… your brain once again appears to NORMAL! THERE IS HOPE! STAY STRONG!