imitating the brain’ s natural chemical messengers and( 2) by overstimulating the‘ reward circuit’ of the brain. Some drugs( e. g., marijuana and heroin) have a similar structure to chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. This similarity allows the drugs to‘ fool’ the brain’ s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.”
“ Other drugs, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters( mainly dopamine) or to prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals, which is needed to shut off the signaling between neurons. The result is a brain awash in dopamine, a neurotransmitter present in brain regions that control movement, emotion, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. The overstimulation of this reward system, which normally responds to natural behaviors linked to survival( eating, spending time with loved ones, etc.), produces euphoric effects in response to psychoactive drugs. This reaction sets in motion a reinforcing pattern that‘ teaches’ people to repeat the rewarding behavior of abusing drugs.” In other words,“ overstimulating the system with drugs... produces euphoric effects, which strongly reinforce the behavior of drug use— teaching the user to repeat it.”
Curiously, addicts are often extraordinarily intelligent, highly sophisticated thinkers. It is not a lack of intellectual capacity that they suffer from. If we look to history, it becomes painfully obvious that some of the most brilliant, influential minds among us have suffered from this tragic disease. To name a few: Alexander the Great, Michael Jackson, Karl Marx, Nero, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, David Bowie, William Faulkner, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Nikola Tesla, Cat Stevens, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovski, Elton John, Vincent Van Gogh, Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Sinclair Lewis,