Cocaine’s Effects on the Brain
Brain scans have revealed a possible biological basis for cocaine addiction which may explain why some get hooked, while others can use the drug socially.
The scans show cocaine alters parts of the brain controlling behaviour and appropriate decision-making.
In effect, the drug messes with what is colloquially known as willpower - with some maybe more vulnerable than others.
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The latest study suggests that it is not simply these emotions that are affected by cocaine, but the way the brain deals with them, and keeps them in check by controlling a person’s actions.
Seems like the reasoning for alcoholics.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 26, 2008 at 2334 hrs
The scans show cocaine alters parts of the brain controlling behaviour and appropriate decision-making.
isn’t that true of most drugs?
Posted by Matt on February 27, 2008 at 0918 hrs
Now this makes a lot of sense. this means that not all people are vulnerable to addiction after all. I do not know whether to take this as a good thing or a bad thing because people might think then it’s ok to use cocaine.
Posted by Ajit on February 27, 2008 at 0958 hrs
Anything that will lead people further toward the truth that addiction is a disease and not some kind of moral failing is a good thing.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1014 hrs
Anything that will lead people further toward the truth that addiction is a disease and not some kind of moral failing is a good thing.
Anything that will lead people further toward the excuse that they are not responsible for their behavior is a bad thing.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1137 hrs
Anything that will lead people further toward the excuse that they are not responsible for their behavior is a bad thing.
Tell that to R. Limbaugh and J. McCain’s wife. If our criminal justice system did not recognize addiction as a disease they both probably would have become intimate with the inside of a jail cell.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1144 hrs
Um, it’s not illegal to be addicted to illegal drugs, it’s illegal to use illegal drugs, regardless of addiction…
Addiction may be a disease but it’s a self-inflicted one. People are ultimately responsible for their own actions regarding this ‘disease’ It’s not like someone coughed near you and you became addicted to cocaine…
Posted by Matt on February 27, 2008 at 1150 hrs
Um, it is illegal to steal drugs (McCain’s wife) and it is illegal to obtain drugs through fraudulent subscriptions (Limbaugh).
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1155 hrs
I see no comparison between blaming your illegal drug addiction for your life’s failure and self medicating pain out of your successful life.
That would be like saying life is fair.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1216 hrs
Tell that to R. Limbaugh and J. McCain’s wife. If our criminal justice system did not recognize addiction as a disease they both probably would have become intimate with the inside of a jail cell.
Lame….
I don’t care about Rush Limbaugh. I don’t give a shit about John McCains wife and I really don’t care for the childish mamby-pamby political gotcha method of debate. Reducing everything to the lowest common denominator gets us nowhere.
Most americans are drug users.
Some of them (like myself) just happen to prefer the legal drugs.
But I’m no hypocrite. Use drugs or don’t use drugs. Use the legal drugs (alcohol, caffeine, nicotine) or use illegal drugs.
I don’t care. When your addictions (legal or illegal) start to affect me, I’ll care.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1218 hrs
I bet nicotine factors into the same equation as cocaine. But I only had real trouble quitting smoking.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1218 hrs
3rd way, those things are illegal, does having a disease excuse them? How does one prove addiction?
Posted by Matt on February 27, 2008 at 1221 hrs
Addiction may be a disease but it’s a self-inflicted one…It’s not like someone coughed near you and you became addicted to cocaine…
But that’s exactly the point. A person who becomes addicted to alcohol (or by extension, cocaine) is engaging in behavior that most other people engage in with no ill effects. The vast majority of people drink alcohol without becoming alcoholics, and although I don’t know the numbers for cocaine users, I suspect they’re roughly analogous.
So of course it’s “self-inflicted,” if you want to put it that way, but it’s not like a person knows going in that they’re going to become an addict by using a drug. That’s like saying that dying in a plane crash is self-inflicted because you know that planes sometimes crash and you get on the plane anyway.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1223 hrs
Anything that leads people further toward the excuse that they are not responsible for their behavior is a bad thing.
I couldn’t agree more. There’s no disconnect between addiction being a disease and addicts being responsible for their behavior. In my opinion, the fact that the courts have in certain cases seemed to allow addiction as an affirmative defense is a setback in the effective treatment of addiction.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1238 hrs
3rd way, those things are illegal, does having a disease excuse them?
If you have a good enough lawyer having the disease of addiction does skew punishment for criminality. It is not fair, but there are many aspects of our criminal justice system that are not exactly fair.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 27, 2008 at 1240 hrs
apc, drinking alcohol and flying are both risks that people can choose to take. Just because you are more likely than other people to become addicted doesn’t mean you are free from the responsibility of taking the initial risk.
Posted by Matt on February 27, 2008 at 1643 hrs
Matt, I’m afraid I don’t understand your point. You seem to be trying to say that addiction is not a disease at all because it’s “self-inflicted,” which, by the way, contradicts medical thinking on the matter. Look at this way. Just because it’s brought on by the behavior of the person afflicted with the disease doesn’t make it any less a disease. It still needs to be treated, just like any other disease. Using our plane crash example, the addict is no less addicted for having taken that first drink than the crash victim is dead for having gotten on the plane. Lots of people take that first drink and never become addicted. Lots of people get on the plane and don’t crash.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 28, 2008 at 0942 hrs
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