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I remember a famous animal study about heroin addiction with mice. Almost all mice that were in a very stressful environment and had easy access to heroin becam

I remember a famous animal study about heroin addiction with mice. Almost all mice that were in a very stressful environment and had easy access to heroin became addict. But if mice were living in a pleasurable environment, most mice would not become addict. So, even if it looks very likely that the association between a habit and an environment was at work here too, I wonder how much the low relapse rate was linked not just to a change of environment, but also to a change from an incredibly stressful situation (war) to a much more satisfying one.

garrettgrimsley 12y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
- canvia 12y ago
  Excellent cartoon version of this story: http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/ http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/
btilly 12y ago
I wonder how much the low relapse rate was linked not just to a change of environment, but also to a change from an incredibly stressful situation (war) to a much more satisfying one. Based on other things I've read about heroin, the change of environment is the only thing that mattered here. Heroin is in a class of drugs that create strong links with experience so that, even years later, a reminder of the experience immediately brings back the craving. A sample anecdote from one book I read on drugs and addiction was a person who had kicked heroin, been clean for 10-15 years, and had become a successful executive. He then made the mistake of going to a movie with a scene of someone seeking his next hit in a drug den. Simply seeing the drug den was enough to trigger a relapse - he walked out of the movie to find some and several days later realized how much trouble he was in. Examples like this have convinced drug researchers to conclude that long term treatment (eg taking methadone to block heroin) is the only reliable way to keep an ex-addict from being one unexpected environmental cue from becoming a current addict.
- beagle3 12y ago
  I've read about very encouraging (though not universal) results of Ibogaine treatment, and heard similar first-person anecdotes. But drug researchers can hardly research that, because Ibogaine is not legal (despite having basically no addictive, enjoyable or otherwise recreational properties). Current drug research is limited by irrational policy (well, at the very least, it is irrational if your aim is to cure addiction). I wouldn't trust it.
  - btilly 12y ago
    I was curious about the subject back in the 90s and have not followed up. I had not heard about Ibogaine, but it does sound interesting. The book I read (whose title escapes me) reported on another drug that was similar to methadone, except that it suppressed heroin for a week instead of a day. This would be a significant improvement in lifestyle for addicts, allowing them to do things like take short business trips without having to disclose their treatment. (Doctors are reluctant to simply give patients a few days supply because methadone has street value for its ability to suppress heroin cravings.) I forget the name of that drug but it is moot. Research hit a dead end because the medication was not under patent, and therefore there was no way for anyone to recoup the high cost of seeking FDA approval. (There are a number of promising treatments which have suffered the same fate.)
    - refurb 12y ago
      I forget the name of that drug but it is moot. Are you thinking of LAAM? It was used as a maintanence drug, but was pulled off the market due to side effects. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levacetylmethadol http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levacetylmethadol
      - btilly 12y ago
        I doubt it since the author of the book I read was the person who studied the drug in question and he said that research was discontinued due to FDA issues. Another anecdote in the same book was that the same researcher was funded to study side effects of a drug for insomnia. He found it did an excellent job of helping people sleep, and was puzzled about why people weren't interested. Turns out that the drug company funding him was testing a competitor's drug and were hoping to find side effects so that they could get the FDA to take it off the market. :-) It was an excellent book that I read 20 years ago, and if I could remember the title I'd buy it in a heartbeat just to refresh my memory.
ozmbie 12y ago
The author of that study (Bruce Alexander) wrote an incredibly in-depth book about the relationship between environment and addiction. It covers not just drug addictions, but also other addictions such as overeating and excessive consumerism. http://www.amazon.com/The-Globalization-Addiction-Poverty-Spirit/dp/0199588716 http://www.amazon.com/The-Globalization-Addiction-Poverty-Sp...
inDigiNeous 12y ago
Interesting. This is what happens in cities and stressful work places all the time. Also why meditation and mindfulness work, because then the environment is no longer an issue. You can create your own environment, inside you, and this becomes the way to handle every situation, with inner reflection, instead of external reflection on what surrounds you.

garrettgrimsley 12y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

canvia 12y ago
Excellent cartoon version of this story: http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/ http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/

btilly 12y ago

I wonder how much the low relapse rate was linked not just to a change of environment, but also to a change from an incredibly stressful situation (war) to a much more satisfying one. Based on other things I've read about heroin, the change of environment is the only thing that mattered here. Heroin is in a class of drugs that create strong links with experience so that, even years later, a reminder of the experience immediately brings back the craving. A sample anecdote from one book I read on drugs and addiction was a person who had kicked heroin, been clean for 10-15 years, and had become a successful executive. He then made the mistake of going to a movie with a scene of someone seeking his next hit in a drug den. Simply seeing the drug den was enough to trigger a relapse - he walked out of the movie to find some and several days later realized how much trouble he was in. Examples like this have convinced drug researchers to conclude that long term treatment (eg taking methadone to block heroin) is the only reliable way to keep an ex-addict from being one unexpected environmental cue from becoming a current addict.

beagle3 12y ago
I've read about very encouraging (though not universal) results of Ibogaine treatment, and heard similar first-person anecdotes. But drug researchers can hardly research that, because Ibogaine is not legal (despite having basically no addictive, enjoyable or otherwise recreational properties). Current drug research is limited by irrational policy (well, at the very least, it is irrational if your aim is to cure addiction). I wouldn't trust it.
- btilly 12y ago
  I was curious about the subject back in the 90s and have not followed up. I had not heard about Ibogaine, but it does sound interesting. The book I read (whose title escapes me) reported on another drug that was similar to methadone, except that it suppressed heroin for a week instead of a day. This would be a significant improvement in lifestyle for addicts, allowing them to do things like take short business trips without having to disclose their treatment. (Doctors are reluctant to simply give patients a few days supply because methadone has street value for its ability to suppress heroin cravings.) I forget the name of that drug but it is moot. Research hit a dead end because the medication was not under patent, and therefore there was no way for anyone to recoup the high cost of seeking FDA approval. (There are a number of promising treatments which have suffered the same fate.)
  - refurb 12y ago
    I forget the name of that drug but it is moot. Are you thinking of LAAM? It was used as a maintanence drug, but was pulled off the market due to side effects. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levacetylmethadol http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levacetylmethadol
    - btilly 12y ago
      I doubt it since the author of the book I read was the person who studied the drug in question and he said that research was discontinued due to FDA issues. Another anecdote in the same book was that the same researcher was funded to study side effects of a drug for insomnia. He found it did an excellent job of helping people sleep, and was puzzled about why people weren't interested. Turns out that the drug company funding him was testing a competitor's drug and were hoping to find side effects so that they could get the FDA to take it off the market. :-) It was an excellent book that I read 20 years ago, and if I could remember the title I'd buy it in a heartbeat just to refresh my memory.

ozmbie 12y ago

The author of that study (Bruce Alexander) wrote an incredibly in-depth book about the relationship between environment and addiction. It covers not just drug addictions, but also other addictions such as overeating and excessive consumerism. http://www.amazon.com/The-Globalization-Addiction-Poverty-Spirit/dp/0199588716 http://www.amazon.com/The-Globalization-Addiction-Poverty-Sp...

inDigiNeous 12y ago

Interesting. This is what happens in cities and stressful work places all the time. Also why meditation and mindfulness work, because then the environment is no longer an issue. You can create your own environment, inside you, and this becomes the way to handle every situation, with inner reflection, instead of external reflection on what surrounds you.