By Alex Byanyiko
The reason I titled my previous article ‘I Love Drugs, But Not Addiction,’ was to simply foreshadow how an exciting adventure or fun activity can result in a deadly bondage called ‘addiction.’
In spite of scientific findings from other medically advanced nations, there is still so much misunderstanding in our society today as to what it means to be a drug addict.
Many of us think of drug addicts as people with low moral standards or without will and determination. In some cases, we think of them as foolish people who have no future ambition which, perhaps, leads to the lack of seriousness to tackle drug addiction through prevention.
We often grope around for solutions when it is too late, hence the frustrations that some parents go through in trying to deal with their drug addicted children and, or wards.
It is important for us to understand how drugs of addiction affects users that leads them to a place where it becomes difficult to pull out. The first casualty is the brain.
As I mentioned in one of the previous articles, the brain is the first part of the human body that gets influenced and changed by drugs of addiction and other psychoactive substances. I will try to explain this technical processes without being technical about it.
The brain is the most complicated organ of the human body and it controls virtually everything we do as living things. According to scientific research, “the average adult human brain has about 100 billion cells and each of these cells can connect to tens of thousands of other brain cells.”
Cells are simply defined as the smallest units of life. Think of them as the tiny little material energy that make up tissues, organs and the systems of the human body such as the nervous system, the digestive system, the circulatory system and so forth.
In the brain, these billions of cells communicate with each other and across each other leading to how we feel things, see things, taste things, hear sounds, touch things, think, reason, create, walk, talk, sleep, eat, breath and virtually every little human activity we do within our own bodies, with other human beings and, or with our environment.
The brain cells are also known as neurons and they communicate by sending, receiving and interpreting data (messages such as what we see, touch, feel and perceive) from one cell or nerve ending to another.
For instance, when fire burns our skin, the cell responsible for the sense of touch in the brain interprets it as the pain that we feel. Similarly, when we eat something, the nerve cell responsible for the sense of a specific taste interprets it as delicious or otherwise, as the case maybe. Therefore, this takes us to where it all begins with drugs of addiction: parts of the brain that gets affected by drugs and how it leads to addiction.
THE BRAIN STEM: this part of the brain is connected to the spinal cord, a portion of the central nervous system enclosed in the vertebral column. It consists of nerve cells and bundles of nerves connecting all parts of the human body to the brain and it controls our heart rate, breathing, eating and sleeping. Some manifestations of the effects that drugs and psychoactive substances cause on the brain stem are cardiac arrest (heart failure), insomnia and conditioning addiction such as smoking after eating.
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM: this part of the brain is on top of the brain stem and is located under the cortex. It consists of the amygdala and hypocampus. These structures of the brain make up what scientist describe as the brain’s reward circuit. It is responsible for regulating and interpreting pleasurable stimulus and other emotions and or feelings such as anger, happiness, sadness, bitterness, sweetness and so forth.
We are usually motivated to repeat certain actions that bring us happiness, sweetness, laughter and joy, but on the other hand, we are discouraged to repeat actions that bring us sadness, bitterness and so forth. All these are necessary for our survival as humans. For instance, the pleasure we experience during and after eating food or having sex, amongst other things, motivate us to repeat such actions.
So how do drugs or psychoactive substances affect this part of the brain’s structures and function? Produced in several parts of the body, including the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area of the brain, dopamine is a neurotransmitter found in the human body that sends signals involving pleasure from the human body to the brain. It plays a key role in our movement and emotions.
According to Medical News Today, “The right balance of dopamine is vital for both physical and mental well-being. Vital brain functions that affect mood, sleep, memory, learning, concentration, and motor control are influenced by the levels of dopamine in a person’s body.”
But how does something responsible for pleasure result in addiction for drug users or abusers? How does such pleasure turn to pain for the parties involved, their loved ones and the society in general? We shall continue next week.
.Byanyiko, a filmmaker writes from Abuja