Cocaine addiction plagues all levels of society. Celebs and executive businesspeople may enjoy pure white powder, but the lower reaches get stuck into badly cut crack. Very few people manage to ‘dabble’ in cocaine, or stick to purely recreational use. This is because cocaine is highly addictive. People also develop a tolerance to cocaine fairly quickly, which means they need more of the drug more often to reach the same highs – which last for shorter periods of time.

Various treatment methods have been tried; the most successful of which rely on a holistic approach. In other words, addicts are treated physically, psychologically, behaviourally, and, often, spiritually. This is because one approach only treats one part of the problem. You need to approach the problem from every conceivable angle if you want to improve the chances of long-term recovery.

Medical breakthroughs

The trouble is that there is always the risk of relapse – always. This is why scientists keep looking for the golden key that will unlock the secret to addiction and open the door to a cure. So far, the key has yet to be found, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t getting closer.

Science Daily recently reported findings by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California San Francisco. The team discovered that it’s possible to eradicate addictive behaviour in rats by using a laser light in the pre-limbic region of the prefrontal cortex.

Just because it’s been successful in treating addiction in rats, doesn’t mean that it will work when treating humans. But the scientists are confident that by using electromagnetic stimulation outside the scalp, they can replicate the results.

In other news

Scientists from Michigan State University have managed to break cocaine addiction right down to what could be its basic molecular process (Science Daily). The key actually lies in the processes that occur in the brain – in the nucleus accumbens – when cocaine is used. Cocaine alters the nucleus accumbens, which is the pleasure centre, on a molecular level. Once scientists have unravelled this change they may be able to understand the biology of addiction, which will help them treat it.

In August 2012, research by scientists from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Scripps Institute in California found that cocaine addiction could be treated by drugs that are already used to treat heroin addiction and addiction to prescription pain medication (healthland.time.com). Once again, the results are based on studies conducted on rats, but human clinical trials are underway and the doctors are hopeful that a combination of buprenorphine plus naltrexone could prove to be the first truly effective medication to treat cocaine addiction.

Like all drug addictions, cocaine is difficult to beat, but with the proper care and treatment it is possible control the addiction and live a clean, sober, and happy life.

Image source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=cocaine&ex=1#ai:MP900341786
About the author: Sandy Cosser writes for False Bay Therapeutic Community Centre, a holistic in-patient drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.