The Cocaine Nose-Job on Wall Street |

I loved cocaine. Part of me still does. I also loved trading stocks. The rush of euphoria was very similar. Some may write off cocaine use as a party enhancer or coping mechanism for such a high-stress job, but in fact, it’s a trade killer. And I wasn’t alone.

Recently, a study came out from a team of researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai that showed cocaine use leads to bad decision-making. They recorded the brain activity of 50 cocaine users and 25 nonusers while they played a gambling game. The scientists were specifically examining the signals in the brain that help humans predict the possible rewards and punishments that might result from a decision.