to addiction present in the brains of those who have it—whether they use drugs or not—but once manifested by the ingestion of substances, changes take place in the part of the brain where we feel good things.
Human brains are wired to ensure we repeat life-sustaining activities by associating those activities with pleasure or reward. Whenever this reward circuit is kicked into gear, the brain makes a note that something is happening that needs to be remembered and repeated. It then teaches us to do the action again and again, without thinking. Because drugs of abuse, including the drug alcohol, stimulate the same circuit in our brains, many professionals believe we learn to abuse drugs in the same way we learn to repeat life-maintaining behaviors. This means that once addicts (people with the disease of addiction) use certain drugs, their brain fools them into thinking the substance is necessary for survival and demands they continue to eat, drink, smoke, snort, inject, or get it into their systems by any means possible. Emergency room records can testify to the various creative methods many addicts use to get drugs into their bodies.
Contrary to the findings of a vast number of eminent clinicians and researchers, some people believe drug abuse and addiction is a social failing or lack of moral values. They claim addicts could stop taking drugs if only they would change their behavior. Addiction, they say, begins when an individual makes a decision to use and then abuse drugs. Additionally, there are those who argue that addiction is hardly a disease, since the very act of ingesting or injecting a substance appears to be a self-willed decision. Most scientists, however, profoundly disagree. Dr. Avram Goldstein, a pharmacologist and neuroscientist whose career has been devoted primarily to research on addictive drugs, best explains the reality of addiction.
Goldstein, who for thirty-four years was the director of the Addiction Research Foundation at Stanford University, says that when animals are given an opportunity to repeatedly choose heroin by pressing a lever or engage in other life-sustaining activities such as eating, “that animal will press the lever repeatedly, ignoring the other activities. …It will become a heroin addict. A rat addicted to heroin is not rebelling against society, is not a victim of socioeconomic circumstances, is not a product of a dysfunctional family, and is not a criminal. The rat’s behavior is simply controlled by the action heroin (actually morphine, to which heroin is converted in the body) [has] on its brain.”
So if drugs are bad, then why use them?
The initial decision to take drugs is most often a voluntary action. This action is usually based on a variety of reasons, including (the desire) to feel good, to feel better, to do better, curiosity, and because others are doing it, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The agency explains:
“Some first take drugs to feel good. Most abused drugs produce intense feelings of pleasure. This initial sensation of euphoria is followed by other effects, which differ with the type of drug used. For example, with stimulants such as cocaine, the ‘high’ is followed by feelings of power, self-confidence, and increased energy. In contrast, the euphoria caused by opiates such as heroin is followed by feelings of relaxation and satisfaction.
CHINA ELEPHANT BEATS HEROIN HABIT WITH DETOX
BEIJING (Reuters) - A once drug-addled elephant fed heroin-laced bananas by illegal traders will return home after emerging clean from a three-year detox program on China’s tropical island province of Hainan.
The four-year-old bull elephant, referred to alternately as “Big Brother” or “Xiguang” in state media reports, was captured in 2005 in southwest China by traders who used spiked bananas to control him.
After police arrested the traders and freed Xiguang a few months later, the elephant was confirmed to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms and sent to a wild animal protection centre in Hainan for rehab, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.
A year of methadone injections at five times the human dosage had helped wean Xiguang off his addiction.
Now clean, Xiguang was expected to arrive on Saturday at a wildlife park in Kunming, capital of the elephant’s home province of Yunnan on the mainland.
Xiguang’s return would cap a 1,500-km journey home, Xinhua said, and mark another step in the elephant’s triumph over addiction.
Copyright 2008 Reuters. Reprinted with permission from Reuters. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution or Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters Sphere Logo are registered trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. For additional information about Reuters content and services, please visit Reuters website at www.reuters.com. License # REU-5376-MES
“Many take substances to do better. The increasing pressure that some individuals feel to chemically enhance or improve their athletic or cognitive performance can similarly play a role in initial experimentation and continued drug use.
“Others first begin taking drugs out of curiosity and ‘because others are doing it.’ In this respect adolescents are particularly vulnerable because of the strong influence of peer pressure; they are more likely, for example, to engage in ‘thrilling’ and ‘daring’ behaviors.”
Whatever the original reasoning that leads a person to drug use, all drugs of abuse directly or indirectly target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, cognition, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. The over-stimulation of this system produces the euphoric effects sought by people who abuse drugs and teaches them to repeat the behavior.
For the person predisposed to addiction—the individual who may eventually become an addict—drugs can take over and control his or her ability to manage personal actions. The person’s will is seriously weakened and he or she becomes “addicted.” The original decision to use drugs is replaced by obsession with the drug(s), uncontrollable cravings for the drug(s), and compulsive use of the drug(s).
Brain imaging studies reported by NIDA have shown that drug-addicted individuals show physical changes in areas of the brain critical to judgment, decision making, learning, memory, and behavior control. It is believed these changes alter the way their brains work and may help explain the compulsive and destructive behaviors of addiction. Every drug leaves its own signature on the brain, and while all of the different drugs of abuse share a similar way of affecting the brain, each drug also has a unique way of changing how that special organ functions. They run the gamut from altering the memory and thinking processes, to changing a person’s motor skills, including walking and talking. In many instances, a particular drug can become the single most powerful motivator in an abuser’s existence. Once addicted, he or she will do almost anything for the drug. In effect, the addict has lost self-will and lives only to use drugs.
ALL DRUGS OF ABUSE TARGET THE BRAIN'S PLEASURE CENTER
“I take drugs because …”
At first, some who take drugs justify their behavior by identifying what they believe are positive aspects of drug use. They may also believe they can control their drug use. It
