Health News: Helping to Curb Cocaine Abuse with Enzymes?

Posted by Pat Olsen on August 25, 2012

modeling-new-enzymes-helps-develop-therapies-cocaine-abuse-1343389000.jpegAccording to recent medical news from a site called Ivanhoe.com, cocaine is the most abused major stimulant drug in America. Not knowing this site, and not completely trusting it because it takes advertising, I did an online search to see what might appear for “most abused drug in America.” A site titled AddictionInfo.org says that the most abused prescription drug is Adderall, which I wrote about here. So who knows? Did the first site mean illegal drug? That’s the problem with being a writer. I nitpick and want to know exactly what is meant.

In any event, researchers at the University of Kentucky are saying that enzyme therapy holds promise for treatment of cocaine addiction. The technical Journal article is here. It suggests that a certain enzyme can “prevent the drug of abuse [in this case, cocaine] from entering [the] brain to produce physiological effects.” In other words, this therapy can prevent cocaine users from getting high and thus will help in treatment.

Science Daily says there’s a series of enzymes, not one, and that the scientists have actually discovered them. (To read the article, you have to go to the page of press releases and enter “cocaine”. The title of the release is Modeling of New Enzymes Helps Develop Therapies for Cocaine Abuse but there’s no direct link.) The article reminds readers that currently there is no FDA-approved medication for cocaine addiction, so understandably it’s a high priority. The strategy, or “insights from the research,” also holds promise for other drug addiction. I love how the Science Daily writer characterized the enzymes as “detoxifying other drugs.”

In June, a Science Daily article titled Abnormal Brain Structure Linked to Chronic Cocaine Abuse reported that researchers at the University of Cambridge found that cocaine users exhibit abnormal brain structures in the frontal lobe, which may also provide insight into cocaine abuse. 

Help can’t come too soon, according to articles called Cocaine: Hidden in Plain Sight, which points out how huge a part of the social scene cocaine is. In June, Craiglist posters were actually inviting others to join them in indulging in coke.  The posts included phrases and euphemisms  like “Where are the cool Brooklyn ski bums? I’ve got tons to share.” And “Take a ride on the snow train.” Wow.

I thought pot was rampant, but people quoted in the article said you see cocaine being used in bars, parties, and just everywhere. Dr. Herb Kleber, an addiction specialist in NY, said people aren’t hiding it; the stigma isn’t there. That, in turn, leads some people to believe that it’s not that harmful.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. As the article indicates, “Besides its addictive potential, cocaine can cause elevated blood pressure, seizures, stroke, cardiac arrest or other heart problems, particularly in people with a predisposition.” And combining it with alcohol “increases its toxicity, particularly in the liver.”

Venezuela - Cocaine "Exporting" is Worse Than Ever

Posted by Pat Olsen on August 18, 2012

venezuela stamp.jpgIs it just me, or have you been seeing a ton of articles about drugs in Central and South America lately? One recent article, Cocaine’s Flow is Unchecked in Venezuela, held that the Venezuela government has exaggerated how well it’s doing in the drug war there. Officials have reported that they’ve raided labs and destroyed airfields, seized barrels of liquid cocaine (who knew it came in a liquid???), and confiscated planes involved in transporting the drug.

However, someone or some group (that went unmentioned) found that the situation is not as described. There are still “drug flights” transporting cocaine out of the country, and I can guess where it’s headed: the U.S.  It should come as no surprise that the cocaine is actually from Colombia. In fact, a Columbian guerrilla group – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia – is very active in a “remote region” of Venezuela. 

Venezuelan authorities could try and destroy the airstrip – again – but they’re not, according to the article. And although our government works with governments that include Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, we are not friendly with Venezuela, which is probably one reason why drug traffickers can operate so freely there. 

The article contributors cite the Venezuela government’s corruption as another problem, and the fact that the criminals have chosen the poorest state in which to operate is undoubtedly another factor. Even at the border with Columbia, they collect “protection money” from local businesses.

How much of a problem does cocaine from Venezuela present? According to the White House, more than 200 tons of cocaine passed through that country in 2010, which is about ¼ of the cocaine shipped from South America. Check out the aerial photo included in the article showing illicit drug flights operating out of Venezuela, collected by radar. It’s impressive.

Another article is just as depressing: Numbers Tell of Failure in Drug War. The writer found that “only 31% of Americans said they thought that the government was making much progress dealing with illegal drugs, the lowest share since 1997.” More disturbing was that compared to 10 years ago, fewer people even worry about drug abuse! That, despite the fact that about 1 in 5 inmates are in jail for drug offenses (just one sad fact). Let’s not forget that about 15 percent of [high school] seniors said they abused a prescription drug in 2011. (I don’t think anyone in the addiction and recovery community needs to be convinced of the extent of the problem.)

I have another post in mind about some people’s thoughts on legalizing all illicit drugs, but I’ll throw this out now: In the article in this post, an economist at Harvard has suggested that this action would save the U.S. $65 billion annually, “mostly by cutting public spending on enforcement as well as through reduced crime and corruption.” The article points out that “even some Latin American presidents have asked our country to consider legalizing some drugs, like marijuana.”  How’s that for some food for thought?