

A simple herb used in traditional Chinese medicine may be able to help crackheads kick their habits. Tetrahydropalmatine, a chemical from the plant, blocks the euphoria that would be caused by a dose of cocaine. Knowing that even the best blow would be wasted on them, addicts may find it easier to quit.

Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Maryland trained rats to enjoy the effects of cocaine. When the rodents were given the ability to get themselves high by pressing a lever, low doses of the herbal chemical made them use even more of the illicit drug. However, high doses of the drug made them give up their hedonistic ways.

The results made perfect sense: Small amounts of the herbal medicine would not completely take the fun out of using the drug, but it would make it harder to get high. Thus, the rats would need to indulge in larger amounts of coke to feel any satisfaction. A full dose of the plant-derived compound must have completely prevented any pleasure – sapping the animals of their motivation to get high.

The herb, Stephanie, is not without drawbacks. It made the rats lazy. This is no big surprise because the active chemical is a sedative that has been used for decades to treat insomnia and chronic pain.

Zheng-Xiong Xi, along with collaborators at the Beijing Institute of

Basic Medical Sciences and University of Wisconsin, reported their findings in the November issue of Neuropharmacology. They acknowledged that the soporific side-effects raise an important question: Does the herbal molecule work by making cocaine unenjoyable or by making the rats too sedentary to get high?

Since medium doses of tetrahydropalmatine actually increased the drug-seeking activity of their fuzzy friends, Xi was able to reason that sluggishness was not what kept the animals from pressing the lever that dispensed the drug. Furthermore, researchers are quite convinced that the natural buzzkill blocks at least two types of dopamine receptors, proteins in the brain that are responsible for receiving pleasure signals.

Scientists do not know exactly how the chemical works, or why it acts as a sedative, but it is safe to say that feeling drowsy is a small price to pay in order to beat a serious addiction.