HEROIN ADDICTION GENE IDENTIFIED AND BLOCKED

[bi11i]

15:00 31 May 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Jennifer Viegas (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7445)

Scientists have not only identified a critical gene involved in heroin addiction relapse, but they have also successfully blocked it, eliminating cravings for the drug.

The study was conducted on heroin-addicted rats. But the researchers now think that, within a few years, better treatments will become available to human heroin users who cannot quit due to insidious cycles of relapse.

“Many people try to stop taking heroin, but in a few months almost all of them go back to using the drug,” said Ivan Diamond, at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center in California, US, and one of the research team.

David Shurtleff, director of the Division of Basic Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Maryland, US, is encouraged by the research. “It will take creativity and additional research to translate this into usable therapies, but it does provide hope that we will be able to prevent compulsive drug seeking behaviour,” he told New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com).

[continued (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7445)]

Here we go!

[jacky]

lets just hope that gene doesnt support something like reinforcement of motivational drive or some other positive biological role...................

[chucky]

Great article,nice find!:cool:

[miosis]

good looking out!

[bi11i]

thanks.

this thread took another direction and so I split it. You can find the religious banter in the 'General Chat' forum at http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=475. I'd like to leave this particular thread open, but on topic as this is a fairly major accomplishment (good or bad) in our addiction generation.

[fiiendin]

they already had something they could've used, it's called ibogaine, but our the fat beaucrats sees drugs as drugs wouldn't allowed ibogaine to treat those suffering addicts.

[peacefulwarrior]

Seems like Penn and Teller were the ones full of Bullshit in their episode on 12-steppin. They kept saying that addiction is a choice and has no biological correlate and that all you have to do is just stop taking drugs.

[OpiateChild]

Addiction is a choice.

I'm a codeine (270mgs/day) and lorazepam (1mg/day) addict. (Codeine addiction: 6 months, lorazepam, 60+mg over a month medically, but I get physical withdrawal.)

Believe it or not, I choose whether I put these things in me. I'm only 20 and I understand addiction is a choice. However, yes, your brains chemicals can get hooked on the dope. However, it is your choice whether you keep feeding that dope into yourself. So, addiction is choice. Even though I get abdominal cramps, hallucinations and severe anxiety attacks from withdrawl I still have a choice whether I take it or not.

People who say they're chemically imbalanced or enslaved in some way are just bullshitting themselves. I've been kicking codeine for the past 3 days, because I know its a choice, just like smoking is.

I've been kicking codeine & lorazepam for the past two days. I only take as much drug as a I need to.

I know I'll probably go back to doing codeine heavily again someday, like most "addicts" do. Do you know why I would go back to codeine? Sobriety isn't golden. In fact, it can be a boring mundane place most of the time. Why settle for trying to seduce some ugly woman into bed so you can have a greasy five-second orgasm and get herpes, when, without much effort, you can lay there for hours in super-orgasmic bliss?

The truth is, most people quit drugs because they desire the life society wants them to have: woman, cars, job, friends, lots of money, etc. I'm only kicking my drugs because the negatives are outweighing the positives for me.

I take 270mg of codeine, and barely get high. Then I get withdrawl five hours later. As for the lorazepam, my stash is starting to run out, so I'm lowering my dose to 1/3 just in case my doctor doesn't refill my supply (I need them medically) so my kick won't be so horrible.

I'm kicking dope for now, because I can't get high anymore. And the day I cut it out completely, I'll be very drunk just to flush the shit out of my system and make the 1st day I go without after my tolerances are low much easier to manage.

I'll probably return to codeine eventually. Hell, I know I will. But then again, for now, I'm staying sober. Why? Can't get high without taking a horse dose. I'm too used to it. I'm addicted and its lost its magic. Was it worth it? Totally!

Basically, its real easy to get off drugs.
First, you decide whether you truly want to get off drugs or not. If you do not truly want to get off, don't bother to try despite the fear and shit everyone throws in your face. You will not succeed if you are driven by fear. Only try to quit if you really want to quit, not your mom, dad or girlfriend. This is your business and its up to you.

Second, in the case of codeine and most hard addictive drugs, reduce your doses over 4 days to a week, starting at 80%, then 60%, 40%, 20%, etc. of your regular dose. This way you're cutting down, but managing the symptoms. You don't want to evade all withdrawal symptoms, but just make sure they're manageable and not overwhelming you, driving you to get high again.

Third, once your doses are down, stay on a minimum dose for a while to get your body used to that dose.

Fourth, cut out the drug completely. For today, and possibly the next day, take another drug that you are not addicted to (like booze) to keep yourself knocked down and flush your system.

Five, all drugs gone completely, no booze to manage symptoms. Today, you are totally clean.

Six, stay clean as long as you want to.

Seven, return to drugs because you realize sobriety blows.

Eight, get hooked on drugs again, have fun until you want to quit again. Go to step one.


Make sure to eat healthy the whole time, drink lots of water, watch movies, contemplate your life, and relax, you can quit for a little while because you can always go back to it later.

Remember this while you quit: it does not have to be the end. You can always go back to Mr. Dope again whenever you want to. Realize that quitting now doesn't mean you have to leave forever, as most anti-drug programs say. Realizing you can go back on the dope anytime you want makes it that much easier to stay clean, because if you feel that this is the last time you'll ever get high, well, you going to want to fly, and that will keep you on the dope.

--OpiateChild

[Peripat]

Hi OpiateChild, welcome to the Opiophorum. I, for one, hope you stick around here, as you seem to have your head screwed on the right way!

Wishing you the best with your current detox regime,
Peri