Nicotine ‘primes’ brain for cocaine, say researchers
November 3, 2011
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Wendy Gillis
STAFF REPORTER
It has long been suspected that cigarettes and alcohol can lead to the use of marijuana and harder drugs — now researchers from Columbia University have found the first molecular explanation for the so-called “gateway effect.”
The study, published in the Nov. 2 edition of Science Translational Medicine, provides scientific evidence that nicotine “primes the brain” for cocaine by causing specific chemical changes that both enhance the drug’s effect and make a smoker more vulnerable to a cocaine addiction.
Nicotine, they found, sets off a chain of chemical reactions that activate a gene that promotes addiction.
Smoking enhances the effects of the cocaine in the days leading up to the drug use, as well as when it is taken with the drug, the study found.
The findings have prompted new analysis, which has shown that the majority of cocaine users start using the drug only after they have begun to smoke and while they are still active smokers.
People who begin using cocaine after they’ve started smoking have an increased risk of cocaine dependency, compared with people who use cocaine first and then take up smoking.
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