“It’s not something I ever want to do again,” she says of the drug. “It made me feel like s***. It became uninteresting to me. I’m hyper anyway and I have that kind of personality so I don’t need something like that,” Lohan told Britain’s The Sun in a new interview.

“I was only aware of cocaine because of my dad. I was terrified of it. But I tried it because I was stubborn, stupid, and wanted to see what it was like.”

Today Lindsay says she is in a much happier place than she has been in for a long time.

She says that when it comes to booze, she “knows her limits” and adds that waking up in the morning after a night of drinking isn’t fun anymore.

She adds: “I’ve made some dreadful mistakes but learned from them—that has probably saved my life.”

Lindsay Lohan Blames Father for Cocaine Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The singer said that she would use cocaine, LSD, and other drugs to find inspiration for her music. But at the end of the day, she says she was saved by the ghost of her late aunt that lives inside her.

"I realized my father’s sister Joanne, who’d died at 19, had instilled her spirit in me. She was a painter and a poet—and I had a spiritual vision I had to finish her business,” she says.

Lady Gaga dedicated her Fame Ball tour to her aunt Joanne last year, saying, "I never met her, but she’s been one of the most important figures in my life."

In the biography, Gaga says she believes her addiction to cocaine would have killed her.

“My cocaine soundtrack was always The Cure. I would lock myself in my room and listen to ‘Never Enough’ on repeat while I did bags and bags of cocaine. It was about being an artist. I wasn’t a lazy addict. I would make demo tapes and send them around. At the time I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, until my friends said, ‘Are you doing this alone?’ Um, yes. Me and my mirror.”

Lady Gaga Admits Cocaine Addiction in Biography is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Science Daily reports that the study, published in the European Heart Journal on January 13, carefully investigated all the circumstances surrounding a consecutive series of sudden deaths between 2003 and 2006. During post-mortems the pathologists tested blood and urine for traces of toxic substances and studied the organs, focusing on the cardiovascular system and toxicological analysis; they also gathered information on substance abuse prior to death, the circumstances of the death and death scene investigations.

Out of 668 sudden deaths during the study period, 21 (3.1%) were related to cocaine use; of these, all occurred in men aged between 21 and 45, and most of the cocaine-related deaths were due to problems with the heart and its related systems.

Dr. Joaquín Lucena, MD PhD, Head of the Forensic Pathology Service at the Institute of Legal Medicine (Seville, Spain) who led the study, said: “Our findings show that cocaine use causes adverse changes to the heart and arteries that then lead to sudden death.”

He and his colleagues found that median levels of cocaine in blood or urine were 0.1 and 1.15 mg/L respectively, with a range that varied widely but which depended on a number of factors related to the drug itself (how it was taken, how people’s bodies processed it and what other substances were taken at the same time), and to the people themselves (body mass index, acute or chronic use of the drug, other underlying health issues, age and sex).

They wrote: “Any amount of the drug can be considered to have the potential for toxicity due to the fact that some patients have poor outcomes with relatively low blood concentrations, whereas others tolerate large quantities without consequences.”

The researchers also found that 81% of the men who died after cocaine use also smoked, and 76% had drunk alcohol. Ethanol, the intoxicating ingredient in alcoholic drinks, enhances the “high” obtained from cocaine while minimizing the subsequent “low.”

However, both smoking and alcohol are associated with heart disease. “The combination of cocaine with either or both of these habits can be considered as a lethal cocktail that promotes the development of premature heart disease,” said Dr. Lucena.

The study is the first to investigate the prevalence of cocaine-related sudden deaths in such a detailed and methodical way. The authors highlight the importance of this method of studying sudden deaths.
“For the correct diagnosis of the sudden death, especially in young adults, it is important to use a uniform autopsy protocol, including a toxicology investigation of the blood and urine for illicit drugs,” said Dr. Lucena. “Cocaine abuse is a growing public health issue in Europe and we can only monitor its prevalence by performing these detailed autopsies whenever someone dies suddenly.”

In their study, the authors wrote: “The estimated number of COC [cocaine] consumers is about 12 million Europeans with an overall prevalence of 3.7% of the total adult population (15-64 years). Ever in lifetime experience of COC is reported by more than 5% of the total adult European population in three countries: UK (7.7%), Spain (7.0%) and Italy (6.6%). The prevalence of use of COC is higher among young adults (15-34 years), with around 7.5 million young Europeans (5.4% on average) estimated as having used it at least once in their lifetime. In the year 2007, an estimated 3.5 million (2.4%) European young adults have used COC, with the highest prevalence levels, of over 3%, being found in Spain, Italy and the UK.”

“As the estimated number of European young adults cocaine consumers is similar in Spain, UK and Italy, there is no reason to consider that the cocaine-related sudden death in UK and Italy would be different to what we have found in our research in south-west Spain,” said Dr. Lucena.

To put the rates of sudden deaths in context, he added: “According to our experience in the Forensic Pathology Service at the Institute of Legal Medicine, the rate of cocaine-related deaths per year in Seville, is roughly half the number of people who die suddenly from hemorrhagic stroke.”

Professor David Hillis and Professor Richard Lange, chairman and executive vice chairman, respectively, of the Department of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio, USA), who were unconnected with the work, wrote an editorial to accompany Dr. Lucena’s paper. They reported that the prevalence of cocaine use varied in Europe from 0.7% in Romania and Lithuania to 12.7% in the UK, but this was likely to be an under-estimate.

They agreed that uniform protocols were required for post-mortems on victims of sudden death, including toxicological examination of the blood and urine for illicit drugs. “Until these are accomplished, the prevalence of cocaine and other illicit drug use will be underestimated, and cocaine-related complications will not be recognized,” they wrote.

“Physicians should consider the possibility of cocaine abuse in a young individual with cardiovascular disease or sudden death, especially in those without traditional risk factors for atherosclerosis. Finally, the notion that recreational cocaine use is ‘safe’ should be dispelled, since even small amounts may have catastrophic consequences, including sudden death.”

Study Examines Sudden Deaths Related to Cocaine Use is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Ana López, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), says that the objectives of the new study were “to understand the factors linked to treatment outcomes, in order to help people get the right kind of treatment, reduce their chances of abandoning the treatment, ensure they stop using drugs, and don’t fall back into the habit.”

The study, published in the Spanish journal Psicología Conductual, analyzes the significant factors (socio-demographic, psychopathological, and patterns of drug and other substance abuse) involved in patients continuing to use cocaine two years after having requested treatment.

A high score on the “scale of craving” (which measures the level of anxiety or desire to take drugs) at the start of the treatment, an antisocial personality type, and having previously taken heroin at some point previously in life are the main factors involved in falling back into cocaine abuse. For this reason, “it is crucial to first evaluate the person’s consumption history and personality type,” explains López.

The researchers analyzed a sample of 38 people (35 men and 3 women, with an average age of 31), who sought treatment for problems related to abuse of this substance in drug treatment centers in Galicia, in northern Spain, studying them at the start of their therapy and then two years later.

The study shows that impulsiveness and the desire for new sensations are also factors involved with substance abuse. “It’s no surprise that people who have tried substances such as heroin, which is broadly rejected by society, score highly for impulsiveness and sensation-seeking, and these are also features that are characteristic of an antisocial personality type,” adds López.

The authors also highlight that, contrary to what had been believed up until now, a patient being depressed or anxious at the start of the treatment does not necessarily mean they will have worse long-term results. “These symptoms are often actually a consequence of cocaine use, and once they stop using the drug their symptoms start to improve,” says López.

Although demand for treatment because of problems related to cocaine abuse has risen in drug dependency centers in Spain, there are as yet only a few studies analyzing how the users progress throughout the course of the treatment, which is why this kind of research is so important.

Why Some People Can’t Quit Cocaine is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Science Daily reports that the findings were presented at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

“Our results clearly demonstrate the negative impact that even limited access to cocaine can have on cognitive function,” said senior author Charles W. Bradberry, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh.

“These findings may lead to the development of therapies for cognitive impairments as a way to improve addiction treatment.”

Cocaine users display a range of cognitive deficits, including problems with decision-making, planning, and memory. The greater these deficits, the more likely treatment will fail. The current finding is part of a multi-year longitudinal study of cognitive assessment in cocaine-exposed rhesus monkeys, which offer an ideal model for study because their brain structure and function are similar to that of humans.

For the study, 14 animals were trained to perform two tasks on a touch screen. One test first assessed how well the animals learned to associate pictures with rewards and then measured cognitive flexibility by reversing high- and low-reward pictures.

The other task was a visual working memory task, in which animals had to remember an abstract stimulus for varying periods of delay. After initial training they were separated into two groups, with one group self-administering cocaine on Tuesdays through Fridays. Cognitive testing for both groups was conducted on Mondays, after the cocaine-administering animals had been drug-free for about 72 hours.

The animals showed impairments in learning, cognitive flexibility, and, to a lesser degree, working memory.

“The types of errors suggest that poor attention and distractibility were significant contributors to the deficits, for they were similar to those made on cognitive tasks by people with attentional deficit disorders,” Bradberry said.

His lab plans to investigate whether the brain mechanisms that lead to impaired attention in people with attention deficit disorders may be causing similar problems in people addicted to cocaine.

Research was supported by the Veteran’s Administration Medical Research Service and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Cocaine Abuse Can Lead to Memory and Cognitive Problems is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

“It is such an important study. It clearly demonstrates…that it is possible to generate a vaccine that could interfere with cocaine actions in the brain,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the study.

The Associated Press reports that the results come just days after that government agency announced plans for the first late-stage study of an experimental nicotine vaccine designed to help people quit smoking. The NicVAX vaccine has been fast-tracked by the Food and Drug Administration, and the research will be paid for with federal stimulus money.

The cocaine and nicotine vaccines both use the same approach, stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies that attach to molecules of the drugs and block them from reaching the brain.

In the new study, cocaine-fighting antibodies helped prevent users from getting a euphoric high and led nearly 40 percent of them to substantially cut back or stop cocaine use at least temporarily.

With more than 2 million cocaine abusers nationwide and no federally approved treatment, the results “are good enough—better than having nothing,” said lead author Dr. Thomas Kosten of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He developed the vaccine used in the study.

The study appears in October’s Archives of General Psychiatry, released Monday. Volkow said the research exemplifies a “transformative” perspective on drug addiction. ”By targeting it as a medical disease as opposed to a moral dilemma, we’re likely to come up with solutions that have a much longer impact,” she said.

The research involved 115 cocaine abusers also addicted to heroin who sought methadone treatment at a New Haven, Connecticut clinic. Methadone treats heroin addiction, not cocaine, but it requires repeat clinic visits. That made it easier for the researchers to work with and track the cocaine abusers, Kosten said.

Over 12 weeks, nearly all participants got five shots of cocaine vaccine or a placebo. They were followed for an additional 12 weeks. All participants also attended weekly relapse-prevention therapy sessions, and had their blood tested for antibodies and their urine tested for cocaine and heroin.

Overall, 21 vaccine patients—38 percent—developed cocaine antibody levels high enough to prevent a cocaine high. In this group, 53 percent stopped using cocaine more than half the time during the study, versus 23 percent of those with lower antibody levels.

Despite the limited success, the results are exciting and show that the vaccine approach is a good one, said Dr. Kyle Kampman, a University of Pennsylvania addiction researcher who was not involved in the study.

“We need novel approaches because cocaine dependence is a disease that has been very difficult to treat,” Kampman said.

Cocaine Vaccine Being Tested is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

While talking to Oprah on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Phillips read a page from her memoir, High on Arrival, aloud:

"I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father. I don’t remember how it started or, thankfully, how it ended…Was it the first time? Had this happened before? I didn’t know and I still don’t. All I can say is that it was the first time I was aware of it. For a moment I was in my body, in that horrible truth, and then I slid back into a blackout. Your father is supposed to protect you.”

Phillips told Oprah she was 17 or 18 the first time she remembers being raped by her father. At that time, she was best known as the young star of the sitcom One Day at a Time, but no one knew the dark secret she was hiding.

In 1981, Phillips went on the road with her father and their band, the New Mamas & the Papas. By this time, she was addicted to cocaine. “We’re touring, and I begin waking up after drug-fueled events with my pants around my ankles and my father sleeping beside me," she says. "Again, [I thought]: ‘Don’t think. Don’t look. Just keep going.’ And this happened over time. It didn’t happen every day. It didn’t happen every week, but it certainly happened," she said.

Their sexual relationship continued for 10 years. Phillips says she can’t explain why it went on for so long, but she believes drugs and alcohol were partly to blame. “My father was not a bad man. He was kind of a testament to what drugs and alcohol—in huge quantities—can do to a person’s priorities. Their motives," she told Oprah. "I don’t hate him. I understand that he was a very tortured man, and he sort of passed that torture down to me."

She also admitted that her father taught her how to shoot up cocaine as a teen, and that they often got high together. "What you’ve been taught is what you know, and that was kind of like it for me," she said. "I didn’t have very good role models."

After she landed the starring role on One Day at a Time alongside actress Valerie Bertinelli, Mackenzie’s life began to revolve around drugs. She freebased cocaine, popped pills, and dropped acid. Then, two years after Mackenzie’s first arrest, she was fired from One Day at a Time.

Over time, Mackenzie says drugs changed her and her father’s perceptions of the world. Society’s rules became warped and twisted. "It’s sort of the Stockholm Syndrome, where you begin to love your captor," she said. "And I felt great love for my father."

In 1990, Phillips said she had an awakening, realizing that what she and her father were doing was wrong. In High on Arrival, she describes the moment:

"The Mamas & the Papas had several gigs in Hawaii, and Dad and I had adjoining rooms. But I don’t think I went to my own room the whole time. Dad had brought tons of pills, and I found us some coke. We were lying in bed, in a stupor, when Dad said: ‘We could just run away to a country where no one would look down on us. There are countries where this is an accepted practice. Maybe Fiji.’ Then he said, ‘We can take Bijou and Tam and Shane and raise them as our children.’ My father was completely delusional. He was fantasizing about living with me, as man and wife, and raising my siblings, his children, as our children. The moment he tried to make it romantic, I had a visceral reaction. ‘No,’ I thought, ‘We’re going to hell for this.’"

At the time, Phillips was also in a relationship with another man, the father of her son, Shane. She says her boyfriend had no idea what was going between her and her father. After she became pregnant for the second time—and didn’t know whether the father was her boyfriend or her father—she had an abortion and never let her father touch her again.

She said that after the abortion, she vowed to give up alcohol and drugs and became sober for the first time in years. She encouraged her father to do the same, but she said he resented her sobriety. In 1992, he had to undergo a liver transplant due to his alcoholism, and he passed away in 2001 at the age of 65 from heart failure.

After her father’s death, Phillips had trouble coping, and started using cocaine again. She hid away in her Los Angeles home and even allowed drug dealers to sleep in her son’s room. In 2008, when she was invited to be part of a One Day at a Time reunion on The Rachael Ray Show, she was arrested on her way to New York City for possession of heroin and cocaine.

"That was one of the most terrifying moments of my life," she says. "I cried. I was just weeping. All I could think of was my son. All I could think of was Shane, and God bless him, he is the loveliest person. I’m so lucky to have such a great young man."

Phillips was charged with two felony counts of possession of narcotics, and she’s serving 18 months of informal probation. Since her arrest one year ago, Phillips says she’s been clean.

When asked why she wrote her memoir, Phillips said she believes she survived years of addiction, overdoses, and near-death experiences to share her story. “I think the universe shows us some sort of purpose for our lives when you think there’s no hope left,” she said.

"In the finding redemption and freedom for myself, maybe I’m going to be giving a little piece of it to somebody else to hold onto," she says. "Having this type of story, and still being here to tell the tale, tells me that I’m still here for a reason."

Mackenzie Phillips Opens Up About Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Crack’s addictiveness takes it over the top, say experts who believe it is the most addictive drug. In fact, in the 2009 National Drug Threat Assessment released by the National Drug Intelligence Center or NDIC, cocaine is identified as the leading drug threat to society. Cheaper than cocaine in powdered form that’s either sniffed or mixed with water and injected, crack use has spread like wildfire across all demographics. From Hollywood stars to Wall Street businessmen to housewives to experimenting teens to back-alley bums – crack knows no boundaries. And it doesn’t look to be stopping anytime soon – despite projected short-term shortages.

What Are The Risks?

Any form of cocaine is highly addictive, but in the smoked form, you get there faster. Crack is quickly absorbed through the blood to the lungs. Its route goes from the pulmonary vein to the heart and then straight to the brain via the carotid artery. In other words, in less than 5 seconds, crack gets to your pleasure center. Among the first physical symptoms are dilated pupils, an increase in body temperature, followed by blood vessel constriction, and increases in blood pressure and heart rate. You experience hyperstimulation and the body feels euphoric. You feel extreme clarity and no fatigue whatsoever, like you could stay awake for days. Constant crack abuse leads to irritability, restlessness, and anxiety. But death has occurred in some individuals who’ve only used crack once.

Side effects of crack use include fatigue, malnutrition and possible damage to the liver. The body’s dopamine levels are depleted. Dopamine is a brain chemical involved in attention, mood and motivation. The side effects are complicated by taking other drugs in combination with crack, such as combos of crack and marijuana, crack and heroin (speedballs), or PCP and crack (known as “space base”).

Tolerance quickly builds, and you need more of the drug, and more often, just to experience the same high. Over months (or less), prolonged abuse of crack may cause you to feel paranoid, suspicious, to withdraw from others, and to exhibit wildly unpredictable behavior.

Okay, you may already be quite familiar with the side effects and, quite possibly, the risks. If you’re addicted to crack cocaine and want to do something about it, you need to know what you’re in for.

Getting Off Crack – Can You Do It Alone?

The short answer is: maybe. Whether or not you can just quit the drug depends how on long you’ve been abusing crack, how often you use it, and what kinds of impurities it contains, your physical health and other factors. The advice to just stop using crack, however, is both short-sighted and dangerous. The fact is you need help. There are a number of ways to get it. But make no mistake about it: you need motivation to quit. Without motivation, any attempt to quit crack is doomed to failure.
Your first step should be to ditch the crack pipe, any supply, and discontinue seeing any and all crack-addicted friends, dealers, associates. Don’t go anywhere where people are using crack – or any other drugs, for that matter. Let’s face it: you can’t be around other users when you’re trying to quit, period.

Crack Cocaine Treatment

Since crack abuse and addiction is so insidious and complex, involving biological changes in the brain, as well as a multitude of factors – social, environmental and family, treatment needs to address all those issues. It isn’t just coming clean from crack. You need to learn to identify the triggers or stressors that cause you to use crack in the first place. You also need to learn ways to cope with those stressors, and to learn new techniques and strategies to help you keep off crack once you’re clean.

How do you do this?

The best way is through hospitalization or inpatient treatment programs. The first step in any drug treatment program, and crack addiction or abuse is no exception, is to detoxify the individual from the drug. To ease the effects of crack withdrawal, antidepressants may be prescribed on a short-term basis. After the detoxification period is when you begin to learn new ways to live without the drug, break your habit and sever the ties with drug-using friends. Treatment for recovery can be on an outpatient or inpatient basis, followed by long-term support.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven very effective in helping people come off crack – and stay off it. This coping-skills treatment is a short-term but focused approach that helps crack-addicted individuals reach abstinence from the drug. CBT’s underlying assumption is that learning processes are important in a person’s dependence and continuing use – and new learning processes can take their place. Through CBT, for example, you learn to recognize situations that pose a threat, how to avoid them, and how to cope with the cravings for crack.

Think about when you used crack. What situations triggered use? For some people, it’s certain music or a bar or hangout with friends. For others, it’s a sound that mimics a crack pipe which can come from anywhere – even an anti-drug PSA on TV. You need to develop ways to counter the cravings that tempt you back into crack. And they will occur. In fact, relapse is common among crack users who simply quit doing crack and do not go on to therapy. If you don’t deal with why you use, and don’t develop coping mechanisms, your own artful deception will give you plenty of reasons to go back into crack.

Counseling Restores Self-Esteem

Maybe you’ve let your family down. You could have caused serious financial difficulties for yourself and your family. You probably feel intense guilt and shame. Most crack addicts do. This is because their drug usage doesn’t square with who they believe they are, morally and value-wise. It takes time and trust to deal with these issues. And you can’t do it alone.

Counselors help you get back on track. There are also therapeutic communities, either on an inpatient or outpatient basis, for recovering crack addicts to join. These communities are typically for individuals with severe problems, however, such as co-occurring mental and drug difficulties or criminal backgrounds.

What About After Treatment?

After your treatment, your recovery doesn’t stop. Experts recommend joining and participating in a 12-step group – Cocaine Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and/or Alcoholics Anonymous. Why? The 12-step process has worked for millions of recovering addicts by focusing on accepting responsibility for behavior, making amends and asking for forgiveness.

You may need to attend daily meetings for a period of 90 days following your treatment discharge. This will help you refocus your life among people who have gone through exactly what you have – and have come out on the other side. They are your lifeline, your support, and your friends. If you have a relapse, they can help bring you back.

Are There Drugs You Can Take To Quit Crack?

The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) is aggressively pursuing study of pharmaceutical medications specifically targeted for the treatment of cocaine abuse. In June 2009, an NIDA official promised that effective drug treatments for cocaine are not too far off. So, for the short-term, nothing has been approved. But there is hope for the future.

In the meantime, it’s important that you stick to your resolve and seek treatment. Contact a drug treatment center or call 1-800-662-HELP for referral to a program in your area. You can come back from crack. The time to start is now.
 

Coming Back From Crack Cocaine Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

“I never used cocaine until after I met Whitney. Before then, I had experimented with other drugs, but marijuana was my drug of choice. At one point in my life, I used drugs uncontrollably,” he writes. “I was using everything I could get my hands on, from cocaine to heroin, weed and cooked cocaine.”

“I used to roll the cooked cocaine and weed up into a joint. This was called a laced joint, which was one of my favorites. It always gave me the blast I was looking for,” he explained. The Grammy Award-winner also said that he nearly died three times, with medics managing to resuscitate him, after he overdosed as he binged with his wife.

Brown, who has a 15-year-old daughter with Whitney, also said he believes his marriage to Whitney was destined to fail from the start. “I think it was doomed from the very beginning. Within the first year we separated, with several more to follow. I think we got married for all the wrong reasons,” he writes.

“Now, I realize Whitney had a different agenda than I did when we got married. I believe her agenda was to clean up her image, while mine was to be loved and have children.”

In 2006, Bobby’s sister Tina Brown claimed Houston was living in squalor, hopelessly addicted to crack cocaine. She released photographs to a US magazine showing the star’s bathroom littered with drug paraphernalia, including a crack pipe.
Houston was said to be disgusted with the claims. An aide said: “Bobby is trying to get maximum impact with the book by releasing it at the same time she’s returning to the world stage.”

Bobby Brown Blames Cocaine Addiction on Whitney Houston is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

In the meantime, before any other kind of treatment, such as behavioral modification, counseling, group sessions, etc., can begin, detoxification (or withdrawal from cocaine) is a required first step. Detoxification treats both the acute physiological effects and also removes residual toxins remaining in the body from chemicals in drugs and/or alcohol. For cocaine addiction, detox is either a 21- or 28-day process.

Pharmaceutical Drugs used in Cocaine Detoxification

The process of detoxification from cocaine addiction is helped by the use of several types of pharmaceutical drugs. These drugs help address the intense drug craving, anxiety and depression experienced by cocaine addicts. They are, however, short-lived and help reduce problems related to cocaine abuse and addiction by providing systematic relief.

• Amantadine, a medicine (antidyskinetic) used in patients with Parkinson’s disease, may be effective for treatment of severe withdrawal from cocaine and help to minimize craving for the drug.

• Antidepressants – a combination of phentermine and fenfluramine, or desipramine, help reduce cocaine withdrawal symptoms of depression and anxiety.

• Benzodiazepines – tranquilizers such as Diazepam help combat anxiety.

• Bromocriptine – which works on the brain’s dopamine system, may also prove useful in decreasing cocaine craving. Bromocriptine can also help to reduce mood disturbance.

• Beta-blockers – such as Propanolol, a beta-blocker antihypertensive drug, which inhibits the effects of adrenaline, may be useful. Propanolol helps to calm the “fight or flight” response to stress. And beta-blockers have been used in clinical treatment of anxiety related to alcohol as well as general anxiety. By reducing palpitations and sweating, the drug has proven effective in reducing cocaine cravings. But the use of Propanolol is not without risk. It can be associated with decreased blood flow to the heart and may cause arrhythmia. In addition, delayed toxic effects may be possible. A caution is that any treatment for cocaine addiction that includes beta-blockers should be carefully monitored.
Treatment Approaches

For any treatment of cocaine addiction to be successful, it needs to begin with a focus on the individual. What are the individual’s needs on both a physiological and psychological basis? Since cocaine addiction is a multiple problem, involving biological changes in the brain, as well as social, familial and environmental factors, it requires a multi-part treatment program to address all aspects of the user’s abuse. There are residential and out-patient treatment programs. Many residential drug treatment programs require a minimum 30-day commitment. Some offer 90-day and beyond residential treatment programs, tailored to the specific individual.

Behavioral modification helps cocaine addicts to break old habits. This includes any friendships with persons who use cocaine. Learning what “triggers” may cause relapse into cocaine use are also examined in this approach.

Many individuals attend 12-step kinds of self-help programs and attend regular meetings. Some of these include Cocaine Anonymous (CA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), along with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). These get-togethers help reinforce reminders of why the drug is so powerful – and why they need to avoid it completely.

The NIDA has sponsored a number of studies of cocaine treatment methods and published several manuals. Group Drug Counseling (GDC) describes one such approach and is the subject of one of these manuals. GDC is used in conjunction with Individual Drug Counseling (IDC), Individual Supportive-Expressive Psychotherapy (SEP), Individual Cognitive Therapy (CT), or alone.

Treatment Options for Cocaine Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment