Cocaine May Dampen Life's Pleasure in General
Apparently a little blow goes a long way:
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cocaine may alter the function of neurons implicated in drug addiction, making it increasingly hard for a serious cocaine user to experience a pleasurable "high" from their drug of choice or even other stimuli, like food and sex, researchers report.
In a study of cocaine's effects on humans, Dr. Karley Little and his colleagues at the University of Michigan examined the brain tissue of 35 deceased highly dependent cocaine addicts and 35 deceased nonusers.
The researchers looked at the dopamine neurons, which are thought to be involved in the experience of pleasure. Specifically, they looked at the level of dopamine and the quantity and activity of a protein called VMAT2 (vesicular monoamine transporter protein), which helps return dopamine to storage in the neuron.
They found that cocaine users had significantly lower dopamine and VMAT2 levels in their brains compared to nonusers, Little and colleagues report in the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
This suggests that cocaine use, which increases available dopamine to create a "high," may eventually result in a long-term reduction of dopamine, making it increasingly hard for a cocaine user to experience a pleasurable "high" from cocaine or even food and sex.
"The neurons in the brain are trying to decrease the effect of cocaine, but in the process they make the person less responsive to all pleasures," Little told Reuters Health.
Or, as Gallagher once suggested, perhaps cocaine really IS God's way of telling you that you have too damn much money....
