Gambling

• > No specific drug treatment for gambling addiction - ongoing research

  > Naltrexone - used to treat heroin addicts

  > Aim - reduce the pleasurable feeling associated with gambling

  > Opioid antagonists (naltrexone) enhance the release of the neuro transmitter GABA in the mesolimbic pathway.

  > The increased GABA activity reduces the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, reducing the urge to gamble