Study Shows How Cocaine Use Hurts Brain Function

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.