Pubdate: Mon, 16 Oct 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
Fax: (213) 237-7679
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/discuss/
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: cannabis clippings http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm

CENTER LABELS POT ADDICTIVE AFTER TEST MONKEYS TAKE REPEATED DOSES

NEW YORK--In a new federal study that researchers say emphasizes the idea 
that people can get hooked on marijuana and provides a new way to test 
therapies, monkeys repeatedly dosed themselves with the main active 
ingredient of pot.

Lab animals will actively dose themselves with most drugs abused by people, 
but marijuana has been an exception, said researcher Steven Goldberg of the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The study found that squirrel monkeys repeatedly pushed a lever to get 
injections of marijuana ingredient THC, Goldberg and colleagues report in 
the November issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The institute says marijuana causes compulsive and often uncontrollable 
cravings and use, despite health and social consequences, and therefore it 
is addictive.

In the test, four squirrel monkeys sat through hourlong test sessions once 
a day with a tube attached to a vein. When a light turned on, they could 
push a lever up to 10 times to get a THC injection.

They gave themselves as many as 30 shots per session, versus one to four 
when the tube gave only water.
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