NBA star and husband of Khloe Kardashian, Lamar Odom is reportedly struggling with a drug addiction that is putting his marriage in jeopardy and threatening to put an end to his career. His drug of choice is said to be crack cocaine, and the last two years have seen him spiraling deeper into his addiction. …
Here’s Hoping Lamar Odom’s Story Becomes One of Inspiration Read More »
Topiramate, an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of epilepsy and weight loss, may also prove effective in helping curb cocaine use in people addicted to both alcohol and cocaine. So say researchers at Penn Medicine’s department of psychiatry in a study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. But while prior studies by other researchers indicated …
Gene therapy is the general term that doctors and scientists use to describe any medical technique that relies on purposeful manipulation of units of DNA inside individual cells, called genes, in order to treat, cure or prevent an illness. Depending on individual circumstances, use of this type of therapy can involve deactivating or switching out …
Gene Therapy for Cocaine Addiction and Cocaine Overdose Read More »
Substance abuse is quite common among people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, better known as HIV. In many cases, cocaine is the preferred substance of abuse for HIV-positive people. Current evidence indicates that use of cocaine can harm the health of HIV-positive individuals in a variety of ways, including increasing the amount of the …
Heart attack is the common name for a disruption of the normal supply of blood flowing to any given portion of the heart muscle; doctors and researchers refer to the condition more formally as a myocardial infarction. Without its required supply of oxygen-bearing blood, the heart muscle will die off quickly, producing a situation that …
Cocaethylene is the name of a unique chemical that forms in the liver when people simultaneously use cocaine and alcohol (known chemically as ethyl alcohol or ethanol). This formation occurs when the presence of ethyl alcohol interferes with the body’s attempts to eliminate cocaine circulating in the bloodstream. According to several different scientific studies published …
In a recent issue of Brain, Cambridge researchers studied 120 human brains and half of them to be dependent on cocaine. Researchers found that there were abnormal structures located in the frontal lobe of the brains of those who used cocaine and this was connected to their compulsive behaviors linked to cocaine use.
Treating any type of drug addiction is a very difficult process, with a high rate of relapse, Cocaine addiction, however, is one of the most challenging drugs to overcome, with 80 percent of all cocaine addicts experiencing a relapse within six months of finishing treatment.
While the use of cocaine can have far-reaching impacts on an individual, the memory and cognitive problems associated with use and abuse may also be linked to pre-existing traits or lifestyle factors. These findings were discussed in a recent Science Daily post and were presented at the Neuroscience 2009, an annual meeting of the Society …
Mexico enacted a controversial law today that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for addiction free of charge. The Associated Press reports that the law sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no …
Mexico Legalizes Possessing Small Amounts of Drugs; Encourages Treatment Read More »