There have been numerous approaches made with regards to treating people who are addicted to cocaine. Some of these have proven to be successful, but many were found to be relatively ineffective. That is why new treatments for cocaine addiction continue to be sought by medical practitioners. While other illegal drugs like marijuana and shabu have found their way into many abusers' drug list, cocaine is still a favorite among them and in some cases, have actually developed ways of counteracting the effects of long-known effective drug treatments. This makes the quest for new treatments for cocaine addiction an imperative in order to effectively help those people who are hopelessly hooked on this dangerous habit.

Recently, there is news of a breakthrough medicine which can possibly be counted as a good candidate for a form of new treatment for cocaine addiction. This is Modafinil, a narcolepsy medication, which has been found to be capable of prolonging cocaine abstinence among cocaine abusers who have sough treatment for their addiction. Earlier studies also indicate that  Modafinil can reduce the euphoric or the "high" effects that cocaine usually produces.

According to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania headed by Psychiatry Department chief Dr. Charles Dackis, their study included sixty-two addicted patients, 30 of these were provided a single daily dose of Modafinil over an eight-week period. The 32 other patients were given a placebo. After the eight-week trial period, the patients who received Modafinil showed a prolonged capability to abstain from cocaine, making Modafinil an ideal form of new treatment for cocaine addiction.

The study also showed that the 30 patients involved in the experiment did not display any negative side effects resulting from the ingestion of Modafinil. This further reinforces the conclusions made by the researchers that the medication is an effective new treatment for cocaine addiction.

The Modafinil results, said Dr. Dackis, are promising, as far as the issue for the quest for new treatment for cocaine addiction is concerned. However, there is need, he said, to conduct further research to accurately determine if Modafinil can indeed be safely concluded as one of the new treatments for cocaine addiction.