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Dopamine Agonists and Compulsive Behavior in Older Adults

This fall, in the course of reporting on the problem of compulsive gambling in seniors, KSFR learned that some people who have this problem of compulsive gambling may be  adversely affected by drugs used to treat Parkinson’s Disease and Restless Leg Syndrome.

Mary Lou Cooper goes deeper into the story and a proposal to amp up the warnings on the medications and inform consumers.

Mary Lou Cooper reports on consumer issues for KSFR as well as on politics and elder affairs. She has worked for the U.S. Congress as well as for the Nevada and Tennessee legislatures, and remains a political junkie. She worked many years for an association of Western state legislatures and was a contributor to “Capitol Ideas,” a national magazine about state government. In 2016 Cooper received a public service award from the New Mexico Broadcasting Association for her KSFR story on Internet romance scams. She has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and from the National Federation of Press Women. She grew up in Oak Ridge, TN and received her BA from Emory University in Atlanta and her MA from the University of Texas Austin. She also holds fiction and screenwriting certificates from the University of Washington.