 ScienceDaily (2007-11-06) -- Anyone who sniffs cocaine once has a 15 to 20% likelihood of becoming addicted to this hard drug. Why does the recreational user only try it once whereas another person becomes physically and mentally dependent on the drug? Researchers have now found a possible explanation in the effect of stress hormones.
Stress hormones
In stressful situations, when there is an external threat, for example, adrenaline and corticosterone are excreted to allow the body to take action. They cause the heart to beat faster and increase the blood supply to the muscles. Normally this response has a functional purpose, such as being able to escape quickly from a threatening situation. In a person using cocaine, however, these stress hormones might have the undesirable effect of encouraging addiction, as they affect those areas of the brain that cause the body to crave more of the drug.
Treatment
De Jong sees in these results some opportunities for the treatment of addicts. ‘If we can block the unwanted effects of the stress hormone medicinally, we may possibly be able to reduce the need for cocaine. Not everyone is genetically sensitive to addiction, but stress is certainly a risk factor to which we must pay more attention in people who are in danger of becoming addicted to cocaine.’
Read More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071105154923.htm
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