A 2004 commentary by Doug Bandow of The Future of Freedom Foundation points out how much we love war, well at least politicians love war:

War has become a centerpiece of American politics. The war on terrorism is the focus of U.S. foreign policy. A real war is being fought in Iraq. Jimmy Carter proclaimed the “moral equivalent of war” over energy. Some analysts are advocating a war on obesity.

But, says Bandow, “the longest-running ongoing ‘war’ is the war on drugs.” And since then, our attitudes have changed a bit. A 2008 Washington Post story by Alfonso Cuéllar reminds us:

Two decades ago, illicit imports of cocaine, heroin and marijuana and their use by Americans topped the list of public concerns in nationwide surveys at 22 percent. In January, a Pew Research Center poll found that only 1 percent of the population considered drugs and alcohol the most important problem facing the country.

Nixon Declared the war in June 1971, but the content of the Wikipedia article probably reflects public sentiment in its outsized section on criticisms.

…people with Parkinson’s disease temporarily became compulsive gamblers after taking [...] drugs designed to control movement problems caused by the illness…

That’s the lead in this Forbes story on the matter, and that’s not all. A variety of ‘interesting’ side effects popped up among a relatively small number of study participants:

• pathological gambling
• compulsive eating
• increased alcohol consumption
• obsession with sex.

The drugs in question are “dopamine agonists” and are part of the standard treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Though the story emphasises the rarity of these side effects, it talks up the dramatic effects when they do crop up:

One 52-year-old married man started gambling “uncontrollably” after raising the dose of his dopamine agonist. His wife phoned the neurologist to report that her husband had lost more than $100,000, was eating compulsively — he gained 50 pounds — and had an obsession with sex that resulted in him carrying on an extramarital affair. The man lost his excessive interest in gambling and sex when the medication was tapered off, according to the report

Another man with no history of gambling started frequenting casinos for days at a time, exhibited an increased sex drive, drank more alcohol and ate excessively. When his medications were stopped, he reverted to having sex once weekly instead of four times a day.

And one 68-year-old man lost more than $200,000 gambling in six months and left town for days at a time without telling anyone where he was.

But instead of celebrating the fact that they’ve found a drug that might be used to make the entirety of earth’s population as drunk, sex hungry, and overweight as we Americans appear to be, these killjoy doctors are looking in the results for clues to combatting compulsive or addictive behavior elsewhere. Dr. M. Leann Dodd senior associate consultant in the department of psychiatry and psychology at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota wonders:

It would be very interesting to see whether or not medications that have the opposite effect on [these nerve receptors] might curb some of these behaviors. Does this lead to potential treatments for blocking [the neural activity driving these obsesive behaviors]? That’s clearly something to look at.

Anyway, thanks to Jon for pointing the article my way.

tags: alcohol, compulsive arousal, compulsive eater, compulsive eating, compulsive gambler, compulsive gambling, disease, dopamine, dopamine agonist, dopamine agonists, drug effect, drug effects, drug side effect, drug side effects, drugs, extramarital affair, increased alcohol consumption, obsession, obsession with sex, obsessive compulsive, obsessive drinker, obsessive drinking, obsessive eater, obsessive eating, obsessive gambler, obsessive gambling, ocd, parkinson’s, parkinson’s disease, pathological gambling, side effects, uncontrollable urge, uncontrollable urges