Gambling addiction is quite nasty. When the brain gets stuck on the idea of an amazing price, the addicted person will sacrifice everything. And gambling games are made in a way that winning is close to impossible. Gamblers are capable of losing enormous amounts of money drastically affecting their lives and even the lives of their families.
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Many countries are aware of these problems and are trying to regulate gambling games because of it. But the addiction of the players is very strong and the profits for the operators are very high. Some Finnish scientists have decided to také a different approach to battle gambling addiction. A science team from the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in Helsinki recently started the first clinical test of a fast-acting nasal spray against gambling. The key agent in the spray is naloxone, a drug used to stop the effects of opiates.
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Naloxone molecules are in competition with the opiate molecules, using the receptors and thus lowering the effects of opiates. And addictive substances and gambling work in the brain very similarly. Chemicals like naloxone indirectly also reduce the dopamine production. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that also plays a key role in reward centers of the brain. And it is in these centers where addictions get created.
The Finnish are starting the test and it will run for one year with 130 participants. Half of them will get the naloxone spray and half will get a placebo spray. Scientists have tried similar experiments previously, but the naloxone was in pill form. But spray naloxone will act much faster. The rate at which the drug will také effect is extremely important as the gambling addiction is very heavy and very hard to resists.
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