Cocaine addicts 'predisposed to abuse'

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by Change | 9 Oct 2008

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Research into drug addiction concerning cocaine has revealed cerebral connections between the problem and the abusers.

A study carried out by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) into cocaine addiction has revealed abnormalities in the brain suggesting either damage caused by the drug abuse or a predisposition to become hooked.

The report, which was focused on the cortex - the outer surface of the brain - found connections between the drug addiction and dysfunction in the areas of attention and decision-making based on reward.

It was found these links were either a result of the cocaine abuse or an in-built susceptibility to drug use.

Hans Breiter, medical doctor and principal investigator of the Phenotype Genotype Project in Addiction and Mood Disorder in the MGH Department of Radiology and Psychiatry gave his views on the results.

"They also suggest that a key feature of addiction - reduction in the range of activities in which addicts participate - has a neural signature in the form of reduced cortical thickness in frontal regions of the brain," he explained.

In other news, the Daily Mail reported cocaine is becoming the "fashionable drug of choice" among 16 and 17-year-olds, based on a study from the National Treatment Agency.

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