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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Users given free cocaine [CAN]
#7418837 - 09/17/07 04:38 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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September 17, 2007 - canada.com
Users given free cocaine in McGill study Research into drug's effects on brain aims to find ways to curb cravings
MONTREAL -- Human guinea pigs in an unusual McGill University study are being given cocaine for free so researchers can chart the effects of the highly addictive drug on the brain with hopes of finding ways to curb strong cravings.
The study -- which at first glance may raise some eyebrows -- was deemed the best in a competition among about 50 applicants for funding in the medical category of research related to brain behaviour.
Its author, Marco Leyton, a professor in the university's psychology department, said about 35 per cent of people who use cocaine will become addicted and end up with a serious problem.
"I tell my students that if Cuisinart comes out with a new food processor and only a third of users lost fingers while the remaining 70 per cent were satisfied, would that be reasonable?" Leyton said Sunday in an interview.
While giving users free drugs may be seen by some as unethical, Margaret Somerville, founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, said it could also be seen as unethical if such research isn't done.
"If you can't do the research, you can't help the people with addictions."
Somerville has sat on several ethics committees and said rules for such projects are very strict. For example, participants have to be consenting adults, they must have used the drug previously, and researchers can't enlist more subjects than they need.
The ongoing study, which began five years ago and is to continue for another five with $120,000 annual funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the blessing of McGill University Health Centre's ethic's board, recruits up to 10 male and female participants a year. They are paid the minimum wage of $8/hr for their time and their consumption is tightly controlled.
"Participants are closely monitored and stay overnight for observation with nurses and physicians on hand," Leyton said.
"We don't just give them the cocaine and say: 'Okay, away you go.' "
The cocaine used in the study is bought from a pharmaceutical company in Scotland, one of the few places where the drug is produced for medical use.
The highly addictive drug seems to turn on many parts of the brain that are attracted to rewards, Leyton said.
"It seems to tap directly into those systems that say, 'that's worth getting.' "
Depending on which stage of the study they are involved in, participants snort just one, or between three and five lines of coke. They then lie on their backs on a bed while a large, doughnut-shaped camera uses a technique called positron emission tomography, which produces a three-dimensional image or map of what's going on in the brain as the drug takes effect.
Leyton hopes to take this information and find ways to lower the craving in the parts of the brain that go crazy for the drug.
For example, the brain produces dopamine, a substance that allows us to respond to pleasure and pain, but the brain needs amino acids to make it. So, said Leyton, if a person is fed a diet low in these amino acids, the brain will produce less dopamine, thus lowering the brain's reward response to a drug like cocaine.
So far, the study has involved regular, but not heavy, cocaine users. But Leyton submitted a proposal last Friday for funding to study heavy users.
It is also hoped that the results will have implications for other addictions, such as nicotine and heroin.
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igloo
Stranger
Registered: 09/16/07
Posts: 47
Last seen: 15 years, 2 months
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Re: Users given free cocaine [CAN] [Re: veggie]
#7419186 - 09/17/07 09:50 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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I am curious about how the university safely imports cocaine from Scotland. Does the cocaine arrive via Federal Express?
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makaveli8x8
Stranger


Registered: 02/28/06
Posts: 21,636
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Users given free cocaine [CAN] [Re: igloo]
#7419260 - 09/17/07 10:29 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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i didn't read the article but, i imagine they get it the same way pharmacidicals get theirs
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  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Users given free cocaine [CAN] [Re: makaveli8x8]
#7419303 - 09/17/07 10:47 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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This is standard practice in human drug studies.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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Lily_Morgan
I'm #1 !!

Registered: 07/05/06
Posts: 437
Loc: Eastern Shore
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Re: Users given free cocaine [CAN] [Re: badchad]
#7419463 - 09/17/07 11:44 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yeah I don't see why they said "it may raise a few eyebrows". This is pretty standard, I participated in a study myself a few years back, it's kinda crazy the stuff they use too. It's like medical grade cocaine (like the kind they used to use as anesthesia) and it much stronger than what is on the streets. But I guess to make sure they have a pure sample that isn't cut with anything that can harm the patients, that's what they have to use.
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Postulio
Designslut



Registered: 06/29/07
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Loc: Australia
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Re: Users given free cocaine [CAN] [Re: Lily_Morgan]
#7422303 - 09/18/07 02:49 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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I'd love to attend an lsd study like that. Medical grade lsd sounds like it would be very interesting..
-------------------- In the beginning there was nothing. Then it exploded.
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Boomers420
Young Hand



Registered: 10/19/06
Posts: 439
Loc: 710 Ashbury, SF, CA
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Re: Users given free cocaine [CAN] [Re: Postulio]
#7425852 - 09/18/07 09:21 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Where do I sign up at???
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