A new study completed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy has found that gray matter in the brain is related to cocaine addiction. In healthy people, the increased amount of gray matter in the decision-making part of the brain leads those people to better evaluate rewards and consequences. In cocaine addicts, the decreased amount of gray matter in the same area of the brain leads to a lesser degree of decision-making.
Prescription drug addicts may have found the dealers of choice at dentist offices across the United States. Dentists write prescriptions for opioids at an alarming rate, becoming the third-most sector to prescribe such drugs. Unfortunately, many of these dentists are unaware that they are being used by patients to assist in the patients’ substance abuse problems.
The Institute of Legal Medicine, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany; Experimental and Clinical Toxicology, Homburg, Germany, isolated two elements of ‘Spice’ that have psychoactive properties: JWH-018 and a homologue of CP 47, 497. For a few minutes after ingestion, they land in the brain along very similar pathways as cannabis, but they can hit with 28 -100 times the force for the brief amount of time it impacts.
A study conducted at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley may hold a new key to the neurological demands in drug addiction. Head researcher Jonathan Wallis, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley; associate researcher Steven Kennerley, University of London; and Timothy Behrens, the University of Oxford in England worked together to pinpoint the exact location of addictive and compulsive centers of the brain.
It is painful as we sit on the side lines, watching someone we care deeply about struggle with substance abuse. Perhaps they are in a serious battle with a disease that causes stress and chronic pain. Maybe they take too much of their medication or use alcohol in excess. Maybe you feel they have been taking pain pills for too long and could be dealing with prescription drug addiction. Should you reach out to them? How can you really tell if addiction is the issue?
