Edmonton — No matter how much Lana Marie Christophersen tried to get clean, the world of drugs kept dragging her back down.

The 26-year-old found herself in a vicious cycle that may have eventually took her life, a friend suggested.

“She had been involved with drugs before, and it was an uphill battle. She’d kick it, then she was back on it. Then when she got pregnant, she kicked it again. It was a hard struggle,” said her friend Sherry Reinhart.

Last Saturday, the Beaumont-raised Christophersen was killed in an East Vancouver apartment explosion. She had just moved in after answering an ad from her new roommate, a 21-year-old man who is now in critical condition after the explosion.

Vancouver police on Wednesday charged Jamie Cliff, 34, with second-degree murder and attempted murder. Cliff was Christophersen’s ex-boyfriend.

Her friends are trying to piece together what happened.

Reinhart, who has known Christophersen for the past nine years, says her friend was a wonderful person who would bend over backwards for you.

“She was really strong and felt she could do everything on her own. Even though people would give her a helping hand, she would say, ‘No. I can handle it,’” she said.

Another friend who didn’t want to be identified said she was a sweet girl and a good mom to her son, Chase, who is now with his grandparents.

Reinhart said Christophersen moved to Vancouver a year ago so her son could grow up near his grandparents, and when Reinhart went out west to visit her last year, Christophersen was clean. But in the past few months she started getting involved with a guy and became difficult to get ahold of.

Reinhart doesn’t believe Christophersen was doing drugs again but got caught up in that world.

“If your boyfriend is in a gang, even if you’re not in a gang you get dragged down with it,” she said.

A Facebook site has been set up in memory of Christophersen. One post by Shannon Wilck said she was a beautiful, free-spirited soul who had an impact on so many lives.

Scientists at The University of Nottingham are to use MRI technology to discover whether abnormalities in the decision-making part of the brain could make some people more likely to become addicted to drugs.

In a three-year study, funded with £360,000 from the Medical Research Council, Dr Lee Hogarth in the University's School of Psychology will study the impact that an abnormal frontal cortex can have in people's risk of becoming dependant upon drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, cannabis or heroin.

Dr Hogarth said: "Evidence suggests that a large percentage of the population try drugs but only a small proportion of experimental users - roughly about 15 per cent - will make the transition to full-blown addiction.

"Our study will move us a step closer to understanding why some people can use drugs recreationally without becoming hooked, while others will go on to develop clinical dependence."

The research will focus on the frontal cortex, the area of the brain which is involved in decision-making and which allows us to weigh up short term gain with potential long term negative consequences. The researchers believe that some people may have a biological predisposition to becoming addicted because this portion of their brain is malfunctioning, preventing them from appreciating risks adequately, leading them to make poor choices in relation to drug abuse.

Young people may be particularly affected by this as the frontal cortex is not yet fully developed, which may explain many risk-taking behaviours in adolescents.

The research will compare students who report social versus daily smoking, and adult smokers who are dependant on nicotine versus those who are not. These four groups will allow researchers to trace the transition to dependence across the lifetime of drug use.

In the experiments, volunteers will first learn to earn cigarettes before this behaviour is punished with an unpleasant noise. The question is whether nicotine dependence is associated with a persistence in cigarette seeking despite the negative consequence of this behaviour, which is the clinical hallmark of addiction.

In addition, researchers will use MRI technology to measure abnormal brain activity in participants who persist in drug seeking, despite this behaviour being punished.

Dr Hogarth commented: "The risk of becoming addicted is due to a failure to offset the anticipated pleasure from drug use with knowledge of the long term negative consequences. The frontal cortex carries signals for anticipated pleasure and pain, so we expect to see an abnormality in the integration of these signals in dependent addicts who persist in punished drug seeking behaviour.

"There is currently a debate as to whether addicts are responsible for their addictive behaviour, which has implications for the funding of their healthcare and treatment. If our hypothesis proves correct, we would argue that addicts are intentionally choosing to take drugs, rather than being controlled, like robots, by urges beyond their control. However, this does not mean that addicts are morally culpable for their choices, because they cannot help being vulnerable to a distortion of the neural system that computes their choices.

"If we identify those who possess this vulnerability, perhaps more can be done to prevent them from making the transition to pathological addiction."

October 9, 2008

News Summary

Addiction treatment and recovery advocate William Cope Moyers has written a new book titled "A New Day, a New Life: A Guided Journal" that explores the rewards and challenges of the first year of addiction recovery, the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel reported Oct. 6.

"Treatment is where the journey starts," Moyers said, but the road to successful recovery "requires daily commitment and effort."

In the book Moyers discusses different approaches to addiction treatment and recovery. Writing about addiction science, Moyers noted that for 10 percent of the population drugs or alcohol "turns a switch on in your head that you can't turn off." The book also talks about the 12-step approach to recovery and the work done by Alcoholics Anonymous.

This is the second book for the author, the son of television journalist Bill Moyers. It follows his 2004 memoir, "Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption." Moyers is currently an executive at Hazelden's Center for Public Advocacy.

"A New Day, a New Life: A Guided Journal" is published by Hazelden Publishing.

Welcome to drugrehab-services.com, your leader for drug rehab, addiction treatment, interventions, and other substance abuse services. We are the leader in referrals for drug rehab, interventions, and addiction treatment services. Please contact us today for help. We work with a vast net