Ritalin may cure cocaine addiction. A new study shows that the drug Ritalin may help cure cocaine addiction-even though it's also an "upper".

Scientists at New York City's Mount Sinai School of Medicine found that Ritalin may help cure cocaine addiction.

The study found that as little as one dose of cocaine  may help restore normal brain function in cocaine addicts. The stimulant drug methylphenidate, or Ritalin, stabilizes neural pathways damaged by cocaine addiction.

Ritalin may interrupt the addiction cycle in cocaine addicts by controlling dopamine reponses. Cocaine addicts must use more and more cocaine to get the dopamine desired.

Cocaine floods the brain with dopamine. Ritalin, a stimulant drug normally used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adults, can stabilize out-of-control dopamine pathways in cocaine addicts.

The finding may help with treating other addictions as well.

Dr. Rita Goldstein, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine, compared the findings of Ritalin helping cure cocaine as methadone for recovering heroin addicts.

"Orally administered methylphenidate increases dopamine in the brain, similar to cocaine, but without the strong addictive properties," she said.

Cocaine usage floods the user's brain with dopamine. And Ritalin might be the key to breaking the cycle of cocaine addiction. In the study, subjects were given a dose of methylphenidate, or Ritalin, and brain scans were used to measure responses.

The study subjects were given a dose of. Doctors performed brains scans to study the effects of the medication.

"Using fMRI, we found that methylphenidate did indeed have a beneficial impact on the connectivity between several brain centers associated with addiction."

Ritalin may cure cocaine addiction, but further research is needed before it is used on the general population. Still, the findings are encouraging.