Can Chilli Grenades Really Control Rioters?

[Ivan Seeking]

I'm not sure that craving a favorite food when you're away from it is a sign of an addiction.

I didn't just pull this from thin air, I was citing the results of study. I will try to dig it up later.

 

[Moonbear]

I didn't just pull this from thin air, I was citing the results of study. I will try to dig it up later.

I'll be curious to see it. I'm not doubting the "data" as presented, just the conclusions drawn from it. People from the south crave grits when they move north too, but I don't think that indicates an addiction. I KNOW I'm going to crave rare meat when in Mozambique, but I'm going to be eating everything well done anyway.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

After a bit of searching, it appears that this is and has been the subject of debate for some time.

Abstract This paper deals with the general problem of the acquisition of positive affective responses, by study of the reversal of an innate aversion to the irritant properties of chili pepper. Interviews, observations, and measurements were carried out in both Mexico and the United States. Exposure to gradually increasing levels of chili in food seems to be a sufficient condition for preference development. Chili likers are not insensitive to the irritation that it produces. They come to like the same burning sensation that deters animals and humans that dislike chili; there is a clear hedonic shift. This could be produced by association with positive events, including enhancement of the taste of bland foods, postingestional effects, or social rewards. It is also possible that the initial negative response to chili pepper is essential for the eventual liking. Chili stimulates an innate sensory warning system but is not harmful. The enjoyment of the irritation may result from the user's appreciation that the sensation and the body's defensive reaction to it are harmless. Eating of chili, riding on roller coasters, taking very hot baths, and many other human activities can be considered instances of thrill seeking or enjoyment of constrained risks. Evidence for and against various explanations of chili ingestion is presented.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/kgur24j824102342/

The tendency to become addicted across a number of different substances or activities was determined for a sample of 573 subjects, including college students and their parents. Four components of addiction were defined: craving, tolerance, withdrawal and lack of control. Subjects rated the extent to which each of these components characterized their relationships to each often substance/activities: coffee, tea, cola beverages, favorite alcoholic beverage, chocolate, nonchocolate sweets, hot chili pepper on food, cigarettes, gambling and video games. An «addiction score» was computed for each subject and each substance/activity, by summing the scores on the four components. Correlations in addiction scores for almost all activities were positive, but low (between 0 and.30), with the exception of chocolate and on chocolate sweets, where the correlation was higher

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=4637961

This one appears to include capsaicin with other drugs but doesn't specify it in the abstract.

ABSTRACT
Pharmacologic treatment of drug and alcohol dependency has largely been disappointing, and new therapeutic targets and hypotheses are needed. There is accumulating evidence indicating a central role for the previously unknown but ubiquitous endocannabinoid physiological control system (EPCS) in the regulation of the rewarding effects of abused substances. Thus an endocannabinoid hypothesis of drug reward is postulated. Endocannabinoids mediate retrograde signaling in neuronal tissues and are involved in the regulation of synaptic transmission to suppress neurotransmitter release by the presynaptic cannabinoid receptors (CB-Rs). This powerful modulatory action on synaptic transmission has significant functional implications and interactions with the effects of abused substances. Our data, along with those from other investigators, provide strong new evidence for a role for EPCS modulation in the effects of drugs of abuse, and specifically for involvement of cannabinoid receptors in the neural basis of addiction. Cannabinoids and endocannabinoids appear to be involved in adding to the rewarding effects of addictive substances, including, nicotine, opiates, alcohol, cocaine, and BDZs. The results suggest that the EPCS may be an important natural regulatory mechanism for drug reward and a target for the treatment of addictive disorders.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121430600/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

I haven't spotted the report that I heard about yet, which was sponsored by the pepper industry. I will do some more poking around a little later, but the references above show that it is a point of debate.

From what I have read so far, it appears that capsaicin is not considered to be additictive in the same sense as tobacco, for example, because abusing capsaicin will burn out the receptors for it. In the case of tobacco, abuse increases the number of receptors. But this doesn't contradict the report that I was referencing. It would only seem to set a limit on the effects of abuse, and time.