STUDY SHOWS HOW COCAINE USE HURTS BRAIN FUNCTION
(From the Baltimore Sun)

BALTIMORE- Heavy use of cocaine impairs memory, manual dexterity and
decision making for at least a month after the drug is taken,
according to a new study of drug users by researchers at the National
Institute on Drug Abuse.

The study, led by neurologist Karen I. Bolla of Johns Hopkins
University, adds to the evidence that the powerful high experienced by
cocaine users is accompanied by long lasting harm to brain function.

The researchers said their work suggests that the brain damage caused
by cocaine might set up a devastating spiral by making it harder for
the drug user to quit. That is because the damage caused by cocaine
occurs in the brain's prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for
inhibiting bad behavior.

Traditionally, drug addiction was attributed to moral flaws or "weak
character," she said. "Now we know this drug actually changes the
brain. It may well make it more difficult to stop." The new paper,
published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience,
is written by Bolla, Dr. Jean Lud Cadet and Dr. Richard Rothman, both
from the federal institute. They recruited their 30 subjects, mostly
smokers of crack, from 1993 to 1995 at the institute's clinical
research unit on the Hopkins Bayview campus in East Baltimore.