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A New Zealand researcher is testing Ritalin as a substitute drug to help P users beat their addiction.
Dr Bruce Russell of Auckland University's School of Pharmacy is running a trial that gives addicts a daily dose of methylphenidate - a generic version of the Ritalin medication used to help
hyperactive people.
The aim is for Ritalin to mimic P's effect on the brain at a milder level, giving addicts a chance to try to stop using the drug permanently.
Dr Russell said it was part of an international study, which had shown encouraging results.
Ritalin seemed to be working well among users who were motivated to quit but the study needed more volunteers who did not use other drugs and who could last the six-month course.
The New Zealand research was also the first to use brain-scan images of P users that traced how Ritalin stimulated the reward areas of the brain and affected their ability to think.
Volunteers began the trial with a slow-release dose of Ritalin, which took effect over a whole day instead of the usual half-day.
This increased over a fortnight to 20 weeks of a higher dose, which was designed to make addicts feel normal - instead of their usual low - but not overstimulated.
At the start of the trial and at 10 weeks, their brains were monitored with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, which showed how the Ritalin affected the pleasure pathways normally affected by methamphetamine.
Users were also given a memory-based task that took about seven minutes. The brain images monitored how well the P users were responding to Ritalin, which normally increased people's ability to think quickly.
Dr Russell said the treatment would not solve P addiction. It would ease cravings but addicts still had to make the hard decision to give up.
"It's like all drug addictions. You really have to want to come off the drug."
Anyone wanting to take part in the trial can contact the study co-ordinator in confidence on 021-274-2659.
Dr Bruce Russell will give a public lecture on Alcohol, Party Pills and P at the university's Owen G. Glenn Building in Grafton Rd at 7pm next Wednesday. The lecture is supported by the Auckland Medical Research Foundation.
