9781422279649

Drug Abuse and Addiction 11

Educational Video

For a short video on common miscon- ceptions about drug abuse and addic- tion, scan here:

In a situation where a cell gets exposed to a level of neuro- transmitter that is too high, the cell takes action. It mops up any excess chemical and stores it for use later on. This process is called “reuptake.” It stops too many chemicals from being active at once. When a person uses addictive drugs, it can interfere with the natural chemical balance in the brain. Some of them block the reuptake process, and others interfere with the brain’s abil- ity to release neurotransmitters in the first place. There are a number of neurotransmitters in the brain. Several of them have been associated with addiction. Some of their names are dopamine, serotonin, substance P, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The first link between brain chemistry and opiates was found in 1973. Dr. Solomon Snyder of Johns Hopkins University and Candace Pert, who was his graduate student at the time, discovered that the brain has opium receptors. Pert had been using radioactive morphine in an attempt to find the receptor and prove the theory, but had been unsuccessful. Once she changed her strategy and decided to use naloxone, a