MAGNETS

Magnets in their time have been used for many things. So this should hardly come as a surprise. One wonders, however, should this research hold up, if there's not some use for them on bureaucrats and politicians to decrease their cravings for greed, power and corruption.

Stefano, a 46-year-old cocaine addict from Padua, Italy, had all but accepted that he might die from his habit. He’d just relapsed after a seven-month stay at a rehab facility, his third failed attempt at getting clean. Stefano (who asked that his last name not be used) couldn’t go more than two days without the drug.

So when he read a magazine article about an unusual new method to treat drug addicts, he figured he didn’t have much to lose. The study described how local researchers were using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation to counteract cravings. He would have to sit in a chair while doctors waved a figure-8-shaped wand over his head to fire magnetic waves into his prefrontal cortex. “So almost like a joke, a little bit just to make my family happy, I said I would try,” Stefano says.

Now the results of the study, involving 29 cocaine addicts seeking treatment at a Padua clinic, are out. They suggest that the magnetic stimulation treatment significantly reduced both cocaine use and cravings. Stefano says his desire for cocaine diminished dramatically after several sessions under the magnet. “I can’t explain it,” he says. “It happened very quickly. Read more:

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/544081/for-cocaine-addicts-treatment-with-magnets-may-stop-craving/?