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Addiction is a brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences. [36] [56] [57] [58] Addiction involves the overstimulation of the brain's mesocorticolimbic reward circuit (reward system), essential for motivating behaviors linked to survival and reproductive fitness, like seeking food and sex. [59]
Chemistry, not moral failing, accounts for the brain’s unwinding. In the laboratories that study drug addiction, researchers have found that the brain becomes conditioned by the repeated dopamine rush caused by heroin. “The brain is not designed to handle it,” said Dr. Ruben Baler, a scientist with the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
These factors are: the chemical makeup of the drug, the effects on the brain, and the age, vulnerability, and the health (mental and physical) of the population being studied. [172] There are a few drugs with a specific chemical makeup that leads to a high abuse liability.
The gateway drug effect (alternatively, stepping-stone theory, escalation hypothesis, or progression hypothesis) is a comprehensive catchphrase for the often observed effect that the use of a psychoactive substance is coupled to an increased probability of the use of further substances.
Forty-four percent used drugs, such as marijuana, as sleep aides. The same percentage cited drug use as a way to "stop worrying about a problem or forget bad memories." And 40% said they used to ...
An issue with this theory is that most addictive drugs cause an individual to build up a tolerance and the effects of the drug will decrease as an individual's tolerance increases. This requires individuals to use a higher dosage of the substance which in many causes can cause adverse side effects. [34] Dopamine is correlated with increased ...
It's no secret that heroin, of the opioid drug family, is a dangerous epidemic in the United States. The number of U.S. deaths from heroin per year has spiked from roughly 3,000 in 2008 to roughly ...
Because of their effect on the part of the brain that regulates breathing, opioids can cause very slow or stopped breathing, during overdoses, leading to hypoxia [16] or death if left untreated. [1] Hypoxia is typically caused by respiratory depression. [17] [18] The brain uses oxygen to regulate the homeostasis of the body.