Guest guest Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 It is not just drugs of abuse. This is a nonscientifict bs term. Pure spin. What are drugs of abuse? If I take cocaine resposibly like a presription drugs is it OK? Of course not. It would still affect and change the brain. I believe the same holds true for almost all drugs. (by the way, cocaine was once a very popular prescription drug and a mainstay of allopathic medicine) Drugs of non abuse (pharmacueticals), and of abuse (nonpharmacueticals and pharmacueticals), don't make very much difference. The chemical action upon the organ is similar and is not different based on the motivation or intent of use (abuse or not abuse, that is the question) of the taker/user. If one swallows poison does the intent or motivation of the user alter the results? This type of speaking/thinking has weaseled it's way into discussion/research to say how bad drugs taken for recreation/pleasure/addiction are from a health standpoint. Then they turn aound and claim the intent of the user is the casuative factor somehow(abuse/nonabuse) to keep pharmacueticals clean and free of the same yardstick. Somehow or rather, those chemicals are not injuious to the brain if the user/taker is just not an abuser. This is completly contra to scientific principals and the studies, what little there,prove that the chemicals alter/ change the brains. Both street drugs and big pharma drugs. It is just that the system protects and promotes big pharma politically and legally and it makes huge amounts of money and it tries to stamp out the illegal competition from non big pharma sales. After all, a lot of those street drugs used to be big pharma drugs at one time or another. To get familiar with this concept. Just start substituting the word " chemo " (for chemical) for any drug, period, and it may open your eyes a little. Frank A drug is a drug is a drug. Misty <misty3 wrote: Health and Healing , Armageddon or New Age Misty Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:27:51 +1200 All drugs tweak brain the same All drugs tweak brain the same http://health.nzoom.com/health_detail/0,2811,180966-399-406,00.html Whether you smoke a cigarette or use cocaine, certain nerve endings in the brain are tweaked in the same way, which suggests there may be a universal way to treat addiction, US researchers have said. In fact, alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, morphine and nicotine all make brain cells hypersensitive, a team at Stanford University in California reported. " What we have identified is a single change caused by drugs of abuse with different molecular mechanisms, " said Dr. Robert Malenka of Stanford University Medical Center, who led the study. The affected brain cells are in a region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area, or VTA, Malenka's team reported in the Feb. 20 issue of the journal Neuron . Last year, Malenka and his colleagues gave cocaine to mice and found that glutamate, a chemical in the body, was stimulating neurons in the VTA to release dopamine, a key neurotransmitter or message-carrying chemical associated with movement. The brain cells stayed super-sensitive to glutamate for as long as a week, they found. In Wednesday's study, they found the same is true for cocaine, morphine, amphetamines, nicotine and alcohol. Stress caused similar changes, but other, non-addictive drugs that act on the brain did not. This could help explain why stress can cause a relapse in addicts. " When drug addicts who are in remission and are doing fine are subject to stress, they very often relapse, " he said. The work could eventually lead to a universal drug to battle addiction, Malenka said. " It's just the beginning of the story, but given that it is happening in the VTA it is likely to lead someplace, " he said. - depressionexplained - www.spinz.org.nz - www.phobialist.com MENTAL HEALTH - Chill out those winter blues - Gene linked to depression risk - Questions over safety of SSRI antidepressants - Violent music boosts agressive thoughts - Appetite sharply cut by protein injection - Scientists find clues to using fat to stop hunger DRUGS - Epilepsy drug shown to reduce cravings for alcohol - Antidepressant use not linked to birth defects - All drugs tweak brain the same - Study to compare St John's Wort and prescription drugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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