News
from Narconon in California
Discoveries Made on the Neurobiological Origins of Dependence
In
a recent article by Sharon Begley, published in Newsweek revealed
new information about the neurobiological changes that occur in
the addict's brain and how these overall affect the cycle of addiction.
Until now doctors and treatment professionals have only guessed
at the complete neurobiological effects drugs have on the addict.
As Begley points out:
"A
cascade of neurobiological changes accompanies the transition
from voluntary to compulsive drug use, but one of the most important
is this: cocaine, heroin, nicotine, amphetamines and other addictive
drugs alter the brain's pleasure circuits."
Her
article goes on to point out that however different substances
of abuse make this change in slightly different ways, they all
reduce the number of dopamine receptors. Dopamine is the brains
own neurochemical that governs the body's reward system. And without
it a person becomes less responsive to real life stimulators, like
getting a new job, a new promotion, having lasting relationships
and in general functioning at a normal level. Not only do these
changes begin to effect the persons life, but to get the same stimuli-response
the addict got the first few times they used the drug, they have
to use more of the drug.
So
when a person stops taking a drug like heroin, cocaine or alcohol,
they are completely deprived of the body's usual feel-good reward
system and the addict feels an acute apathy or life-not-worth-living
attitude, which makes for the reason most people who attempt to
recover without effective and reliable treatment prone to consistent
relapse.
Prescription Opiate Use Spreading Among Addicts
Usually
reserved for terminally ill patients, drugs like OxyContin are
becoming more increasingly popular among drug addicts. OxyContin,
a strong and long lasting narcotic painkiller that is similar to
morphine, has become the latest addition to the pharmacopoeia of
illicit drugs for sale on the black market.
It
may seem that with all the federal regulations barring anyone less
than terminally ill to be prescribed the drug that this wouldn't
happen. Although, as drug pushers find new ways to get the drug,
either through using terminally ill patients to “farm” the
drug from numerous doctors or through more direct means such as
breaking into pharmacies or intercepting shipments of the drug,
it is becoming increasingly available.
According
to a recent New York Times article by Francis X. Clines and Barry
Meier, in one area of Kentucky 85 to 90 percent of the police field
work is now related to OxyContin. The article also states that
the drug is a morphine-like substance also found in drugs like
Tylox and Percodan, although in those drugs the active ingredient,
oxycodone, is concentrated in as little as 5 milligrams, in OxyContin
it is as high as 160 milligrams.
This
increases the danger of lethal overdose in inexperienced users
and in Kentucky the death toll has numbered 59 since last January,
according to a quote from the US attorney from the eastern district
of that state in the New York Times.
The
National Drug Intelligence Center has issued a recent bulletin
in which it is stated that the drug’s spread on the illicit
market is concentrated primarily in the Eastern States but is surfacing
as far west as California.
Heroin Gaining Popularity Especially Among Teenagers
According
to studies done by the U.S. federal government heroin production
in the world has more than doubled since the 1980's. This has resulted
in much lower street prices for very pure heroin, as
well as a much wider availability.
Heroin
abuse, originally only noticeably problematic and wide spread in
densely populated urban areas, has now spread to much smaller cities,
suburbs, and rural areas. This recent explosion in wide spread
availability has caused an increase in the popularity of smoking
or snorting the drug, and without the stigma that goes along with
intravaneous use, more and more people are experimenting with heroin.
Research
done by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse in 1999 has
reported that almost 50 percent of new heroin users are under the
age of 25, and half of these are under the age of 18. This is an
insidious trend, most likely caused by the increase in popularity
of smoking or snorting heroin, this usage being deemed "safe" by
most users.
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