Thanks for this article. Made me block random facebook posts from the girl I spent 7 years being addicted to. I don't want to get any unexpected cues that could trigger pathways forged by this addiction.

That's brutal. I'm never doing drugs.

That's one option.

But for sure, one should be careful with drugs that down-regulate receptors, especially those that do so long-term or permanently. As cocaine does. Receptor down-regulation is the mechanism for biological addiction. Cocaine is less addictive than nicotine, ethanol or opiates. You need considerable high-dose exposure to do serious damage. But once it's done, you're screwed.