Drug addiction

Flooding brain with "pleasure chemical" receptors works on cocaine, as on alcohol

April 16, 2008 -- UPTON, NY - Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown that increasing the brain level of receptors for dopamine, a pleasure-related chemical, can reduce use of cocaine by 75 percent in rats trained to self-administer it.

Peter Thanos: Photo courtesy Brookhaven Labs    » read more »

Additional Clinical Trial Sites To Be Added -- Fast Track Status With FDA

CORAL GABLES, FL - January 25, 2008 -- Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPRX), a biopharmaceutical company that acquires, in-licenses, develops and commercializes prescription drugs for the treatment of drug addiction, today announced that it has initiated enrollment of patients for its 180- patient, U.S. Phase II clinical trial evaluating the use of CPP-109 in treating patients with cocaine addiction.    » read more »

Biden Resolution Shines a Spotlight on National Meth Epidemic

November 16, 2007 -- Washington, DC – To help address the continued scourge of methamphetamine use in America, U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) joined Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and other Senators in cosponsoring a resolution designating November as National Methamphetamine Awareness Month (S.Res.366). The Senate unanimously passed the resolution.    » read more »

October 31, 2007 -- FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) and the University of Kentucky’s Drug Endangered Child Training Network partnered today in Louisville with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to launch a three-phase initiative to address methamphetamine use and the impact of intergenerational substance abuse on the citizens of Kentucky.    » read more »

Video, guide to be used across NC to warn of the dangers of meth addiction

September 26, 2007 -- Charlotte: New tools will help warn North Carolinians about the dangers of the highly addictive drug methamphetamine, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced today.

“We’ve fought back against this menace, shutting down hundreds of secret drug labs and making it harder for criminals to make meth,” said Cooper. “But meth is powerfully addictive and we must help people who are hooked and stop others from ever trying it."    » read more »

4-Sep-2007, NORTH CHICAGO, IL. - Dr. Judith A. Potashkin, Ph.D. and her colleagues at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science recently completed a study investigating one of the changes in gene expression that occurs when individuals take addictive drugs. The findings of this study will be published in the September 5 issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.    » read more »