“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

The study, conducted on mice and published in the January 8 issue of Science, is part of a new area of research called epigenetics, which explores how experiences and environmental exposures affect genes.

"This is a major step in understanding the development of cocaine addiction and a first step towards generating ideas for how we might use epigenetic regulation to modulate the development of addiction," says Peter Kalivas, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina, who was not associated with the study.

Szalavitz writes that though we think about our genes mostly in terms of the traits we pass onto our children, they are actually very active in our lives every day, regulating how various cells in our bodies behave, and the genes in the brain this can be especially powerful. Any significant experience triggers changes in brain genes that in turn produce proteins—those necessary to help memories form, for example. However, lead author Ian Maze, a Ph.D. student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, says that "when you give an animal a single dose of cocaine, you start to have genes aberrantly turn on and off in a strange pattern that we are still trying to figure out."

Maze’s research focused on a particular protein (called G9a) that is associated with cocaine-related changes in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region essential for the experience of desire, pleasure, and drive. The role of the protein appears to be to shut- down genes that shouldn’t be on. Onetime use of cocaine increases levels of G9a. But repeated use works the other way—suppressing the protein and reducing its overall control of gene activation. Without enough G9a, those overactive genes cause brain cells to generate more dendritic spines, which are the parts of the cells that make connections to other cells.

Increases in the numbers of these spines can reflect learning. But in the case of addiction, that may involve learning to connect a place or a person with desire for more drugs. Maze showed that even after a week of abstinence, mice given a new dose of cocaine still had elevated levels of gene activation in the nucleus accumbens, meaning G9a levels were still low. It is not known how long these changes can last. Maze also showed that when he intervened and raised G9a levels, the mice showed less of an attraction to cocaine.

Szalavitz writes that it’s a big leap from a mouse study to a human study—and an even bigger leap to consider developing a G9a-based treatment for addiction. The protein regulates so many genes that such a drug would almost certainly have unwanted and potentially deadly side effects. But better understanding of the G9a pathways could lead to the development of safer, more specific drugs. And studying the genes that control G9a itself could also help screen people at risk for cocaine addiction: those with naturally lower levels of the protein would be the ones to watch. But there’s still a lot to be learned even from further mouse studies—particularly if the work involves younger mice, unlike the adult mice used in Maze’s research.

"We know that the greatest vulnerability [to addiction] occurs when adolescents are exposed," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the study. "Would you see the same results in adolescent [mice]? And what happen during fetal exposure?"

New treatments are needed for cocaine addiction—there are helpful medications for addiction to heroin and similar drugs but so far, none are very useful against stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine.

Cocaine Found to Alter Genes in the Brain is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

HealthDay News reports that in a new study published online in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, researchers report that they’re moving toward a possible solution through the development of a longer-lasting version of the protein. In rats, it lessened the desire for cocaine and prevented the rodents from dying of overdoses.

The researchers tested the protein by allowing rats to administer cocaine to themselves by pressing a button; they did so less often when they were treated with the longer-lasting version of the protein.

“These therapeutic approaches may not be ‘fail-safe’ for reducing cocaine intake by determined users,” Friedbert Weiss, of Faculty of 1000 Medicine, said in a news release.

But the long-acting forms of the protein “represent potentially valuable treatment approaches not only for the prevention of cocaine-induced toxicity but also for ongoing cocaine abuse in humans,” said Weiss, who reviewed the research.

Protein May Help Cocaine Addicts Quit 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

The Associated Press reports that Catalyst said its drug vigabatrin failed as a treatment for cocaine addiction because patients in the trial did not take the drug regularly.

Based on analysis of results from patients who did take vigabatrin regularly, Catalyst said that there is evidence the drug works and is safe. However, it also said the drug failed in treating methamphetamine addiction.

The company said it has analyzed patients’ urine from the cocaine study, and found that less than 40 percent of patients were taking vigabatrin as often as they were supposed to.

Catalyst said an independent panel of experts agreed with its view that there is enough evidence to continue testing the drug because it increased abstinence from cocaine and reduced use, along with reducing the number of days the patients used cocaine. The trial was designed with the assumption that 85 percent of the patients would take the drug as scheduled.

Catalyst reported results from the methamphetamine study on Thursday. It said patients who took vigabatrin were 2.5 times more likely to stay off the drug in the last two weeks of the 12-week study. That was not much better than patients who were taking a placebo, but the company said it is an encouraging result.

Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Edward Nash said Catalyst addressed the reasons for the failure of the cocaine study, and he now thinks the company has a chance to develop vigabatrin successfully.

“We believe this creates a light at the end of the tunnel for Catalyst,” Nash said in a note to clients.

Company will Continue to Test Cocaine Addiction Treatment Drug is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment