How Do Drugs Affect The Brain

Everyday thousands of teenagers are peer pressured into trying drugs or alcohol. Which can lead to early addiction, in a critical time in a teen's life. Many teens try drugs or alcohol to boost their social status.

Drugs are chemicals that affect the brain by tapping into its communication system and interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter. This similarity in structure “fools” receptors and allows the drugs to attach onto and activate the neurons. Although these drugs mimic the brain’s own chemicals, they don’t activate neurons in the same way as a natural neurotransmitter, and they lead to abnormal messages being transmitted through the network.

Drugs are chemicals they work in the brain by tapping into the brain's communication system and interfering with the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter. This fools receptors and allows the drugs to lock onto and activate the nerve cells. Although these drugs mimic brain chemicals, they don't activate nerve cells in the same way as a natural neurotransmitter, and they lead to abnormal messages being transmitted through the network.

Drug addiction is a brain disease because drugs change the brain’s structure and how they work. Over a period of time drugs start to affect the brain by challenging an addicted person’s self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. “Most drugs affect the brain's reward circuit by flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. This overstimulation of the reward circuit causes the intensely pleasurable "high" that leads people to take a drug again and again. Over time, the brain adjusts to the excess dopamine, which reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug, trying to achieve the same dopamine high.”, States National Institute on Drug Abuse. After long term use of drugs it affects functions such as learning, judgment, decision-making, stress, memory, and behavior. Even though an addict knows this, they still use

There are many types of major drugs in use today and on the top of the list is prescription drugs. According to Drug and Society vicodin is the most misused prescribed narcotic in the United States (Glen R. Hanson, March 5, 2014). They say in 2011 was one of the prescription and most often used by teenagers (Glen R. Hanson, March 5, 2014). Vicodin associated with hydrocodone and acetaminophen it is in a class of drugs called narcotic analgesics a schedule II drug. It is used to relieve pain. It is important to study drugs in our society because of scientific developments, we now know more about how prescription drugs effect on the brain. Furthermore we know that drug addiction can be effectively treated to aid people stop misusing drugs and lead happy lives.

While the choice to use alcohol and drugs is initially voluntary, alcohol and/or drug addiction arises because the normal functioning of the brain is impaired so that alcoholism and drug addiction become a “chronic relapsing disease of the brain” (National Institute of Drug Abuse, Drugs, Brains and Behavior. The Science of Addiction. 2014, 5). Drugs impact the pathways of the brain by flooding the circuit with dopamine, which disturbs and distorts normal communication between the brain’s neurons. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain which regulates movement, emotion, motivation and feelings of pleasure. Over stimulating the system with drugs produces euphoric effects which strongly reinforce the behavior of drug use teaching the user to repeat drug use. Continuing alcohol and drug use despite the adverse consequences of such use results in abusers experiencing some or all of the following symptoms: mental stress, impulsive behavior, anger, disorganized thinking, poor coping skills, inadequate decision making and inflexible cognitive response patterns.

Most people associate dangerous addiction with the use of illegal drugs, but substance abuse consists of any dangerous dependence, including alcoholism and reliance on prescription drugs. For centuries, substance abuse was regarded by society as a personal failing or moral fault, and addicts were shunned and forced to the fringes of the community. Substance abuse today is recognized as a disease, typified by the brain becoming reliant on certain substances to deliver neurotransmitters like dopamine or serotonin. Street drugs like marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines react with the brain in a similar way to legal addictives, such as alcohol, tobacco, and inhalants.

Drugs effect 2 parts of the human brain 1st the cerebral cortex in control of our senses hearing, sight, feel, and taste. The front part of the cerebral cortex controls our thinking including the ability to think, plan, and solve problems the 2nd is the limbic system which contains the brains reward system and moderates our ability to feel pressure. Drugs are used to fool the brain into activating mimicking brain chemicals leading to abnormalities in the brain processing systems. Most drugs target the limbic system for the reward system filling the limbic system with dopamine teaching the brain that doing drugs is a thing to do repeatable.

Drugs have been around for a very long time. They are used for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include relaxation, socialization, curiosity, stress relief, or a form of escapism. However, most people don’t know the threats and danger that it can cause to the body. In this paper, we are going to examine the changes that happen inside the brain due to the effects of different drugs. We will look closely at how drugs such as hallucinogens, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, and cannabis affect an individual psychologically. I will explain the origin of the drugs, how a person feels while on the drug, how the drugs

An individual’s behavior and emotion becomes chemically altered often resulting in dependency, aggression, onset of diseases and poor judgement. This poses a dangerous threat to the neurotransmitters since they have multiple jobs in different parts of the brain. Drugs of abuse are able to exert influence over the brain reward pathway either by directly influencing the action of dopamine within the system, or by altering the activity of other neurotransmitters that exert a modulatory influence over this pathway. These drugs are often powerful and have been known to trigger schizophrenic behavior and can also cause a person to cease breathing, for example hallucinogens such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin are able to artificially stimulate the serotonin receptor (Sapolsky, 2005).

Substance abuse is over-dependence on a certain substance, to the point where a person cannot function without it. Scientists now believe drug addiction to be a very complex disease, housing for the person who has the addiction to crave the drug, and have certain behavioral issues because of this. Drugs affect the way your brain functions. Now it is important to note that different parts of your brain all responsible for different things. The brain is a very complex organ. Drugs often affect the three primary areas of the

We all remember the commercials saying that drugs will “scramble” your brain, but how exactly do drugs affect it? Well, when our brain becomes affected by drugs, we form pleasurable memories and associations with them, the places we were at, and the people we were with. This is one of the reasons why seeing a picture of someone else use, or going back to a place you used frequently, can trigger a desire to use. This is especially true in cocaine users. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that’s altered by drug abuse. And when the optimal amount is altered by drug abuse, the brain attempts to compensate for this change. This can cause impairment in cognitive function. Also, there was a study of binge drinkers and regular non-binge drinkers during

Short term effects of drugs on the brain affect the chemical neurotransmissions. Drugs like heroin and LSD mimic the effects of a neurotransmitter, PCP block receptors and prevent messages to neuronal messages from travelling, cocaine interfere with molecules that transport neurotransmitters into the neurons that released them, and Methamphetamine causes neurons to release more neurotransmitters than usual. These neurotransmitters are referred to as Dopamine and regulate the movement, emotion, motivation, and feelings of pleasure within the brain. Because of this effect on the brain, teens begin the use of drugs to find comfort, relief, or a way to escape. This effect of the brain can lead to addiction in later stages of life. Dopamine is a chemical released from neurotransmitter when the brain performs activities that are deserving of a reward. When drugs make their way into a brain, dopamine is released in excessive amounts. When the brain is trained that the intake of drugs causes a rewarding effect, addiction becomes an issue. As humans we are trained to repeat actions that provide pleasure and reward and due to the excessive amount of dopamine in certain drugs, people will repeat these processes many times and rely on them to keep them motivated, and pleasured.

Have you ever dealt with the effects of drug addict? A drug is a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, which has a psychological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. The effects of drug use can vary depending on the person. According to “Causes and types of narcotic addiction: A Psychosocial View” in the Psychiatric Quarterly it says, “The causes of drugs stem from the manner of which you were introduced to it whether it be by abnormal curiosity, chance encounters with addicts and narcotic peddlers, or prolonged illness” (Ausubel). The effects of drugs can be have different effects on everyone differently depending if its for pleasure or for relieving pain Most of the effects of drugs occur in the brain, where it increases the level of dopamine at a specific site possibly giving the addict the pleasure they were feigning for (Robbins). As a child I didn’t know much about drugs except for what your parents and teachers at school tell you which is, “Just Say No.”

Drugs are substances other than food that affect the way your mind and body works (Al Robertson et al).