Drugs Brain And Behavior Summary

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Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction The article, Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction, published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, discusses the lasting effects drug use has on the human brain. According to the article the brain is the most complex organ in the human body. The brain regulates your body basic functions; enables you to interpret and respond to everything you experience. The brain also shapes your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The brain consists of many individual parts, that are responsible for specific functions, but untimely these parts work together as a team to ensure the brain is functioning properly. Drugs can alter important brain areas that are essential for life sustaining functions and can ultimately lead to drug addiction and erodes a person’s ability to make sound decisions. …show more content…

The brain is a communication center consisting of billions of neurons. We also learned that neurons are specialized cells in the nervous system, which receives and sends messages within that system. The article explains that drugs are able to affect the brain by tapping into its communication system and interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information. For example drugs such as marijuana and heroin are able to activate neurons because they have a chemical structure that mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter a chemical found in the synaptic vesicles that, when released has an effect on the next cell. This fools the receptors and allows the drug to attach onto and activate the neurons. These drugs might mimic the brain’s own chemicals; however they don’t activate neurons in the same way as a neurotransmitter, which leads to abnormal messages being transmitted through the

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