Published on Friday 6 January 2012 08:03
A University researcher has been given a grant to study drug addiction.
Dr Philip Murphy, a reader in psychology at Edge Hill University has been given funding of £20,000 to investigate effective treatments for cocaine addiction.
He will work with health chiefs to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining outcomes for specific treatments for cocaine dependency.
As chairman of the psychobiology section of the British Psychological Society (BPS), whose research focuses mainly on problems of drug misuse, he will be working over the next year to identify solutions to help people who have become dependent on the class A drug.
He said: “Cocaine is a powerfully addictive central nervous system stimulant and recently it was reported that the UK remains at the top of the European league table for cocaine use.
“Yet there is currently no generally recognised treatment for cocaine dependence, despite the addictive nature of this drug. Dr Murphy said: “Previous reviews have examined trials of specific treatments, but in this latest study we intend to examine the outcomes of a range of specific treatments.”
He is hoping that this project will lead to other initiatives with health trusts.
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