How Do Drugs Affect The Human Brain

Before I tell you the affects, first I should explain how your brain communicates. Our brains are made up of a network of billions of neurons that send messages back and forth thousands of times a minute. Everything we think, feel, or do is controlled by this network of neurons. In order for these neurons to communicate with each other, the neuron creates a neurotransmitter. These neurotransmitters travel to nearby neurons and attach to their receptors. Once attached, the neurotransmitter sends the message through the receptor. Drugs, however, change the way this process works. When drugs enter the body, the chemicals from the drug tamper with the way the brain communicates. Different drugs have different affects, there are two ways that drugs work in the brain. Drugs can

Other drugs, such as amphetamine or cocaine, can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters or prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals. This disruption produces

Dr. Alan Leshner, PhD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “While every type of drug of abuse has its own individual trigger for affecting or transforming the brain, many of the results of the transformation are strikingly similar regardless of the addictive drug used.”

Drugs can affect the body in a variety of ways, causing changes in the brain, the nervous system, and the synapses between nerves. Stimulants in particular, increase the release of

There are many types of drugs and they have different effects on the body. “There are seven different drug types, and each has its own set of effects and risks: Stimulants, Depressants, Hallucinogens, Dissociatives, Opioids, Inhalants, and Cannabis” (Types of Drugs). The different types of drugs do different things, physically and internally to the body. “Stimulants (or “uppers”) impact the body’s central nervous system (CNS), causing the user to feel as if they are “speeding up.” These drugs increase the user’s level of alertness, pumping up heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and blood glucose levels” (Types of Drugs). Types of stimulants are cocaine and methamphetamine. “Like stimulants, depressants also impact the body’s CNS, but with the

Some drugs can cause reactions that change your brain, such as sedation, impaired thinking, and poor judgement.

These drugs are best know for altering the user's brain, There are two types of ways the drug affects the brain. Both of the types affect neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are natural brain chemicals that communicate information throughout the brain and body. Different ones have a different job in our body. For example one can tell you to breathe and another can tell your stomach to growl when you're hungry.

Ecstasy is both a hallucinogenic, causing hallucination, and a stimulant drug. Ecstasy is the name given to methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). It was first synthesized in 1912 by Merck chemist Anton Köllisch. Ecstasy appears to disturb the body 's ability to regulate its temperature and this can lead to serious problems with overheating of the body. Ecstasy can be swallowed as a pill or tablet or snorted like a powder. Users of ecstasy can experience a rush of good feelings, a high, and makes someone 's feelings much more intense, whether they 're good or bad feelings. Ecstasy’s effects usually last up to 6 hours.

Drugs are chemicals. When someone puts chemicals into their body the chemicals tap into the brains communication center and change the way brain cells process information. Drugs work on the brain in two ways: imitating the brains natural chemical messengers, and over stimulating the "reward " circuit of the brain.

Drugs affect the brain by tapping into the communication system and interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information. Drugs also pleasure the brain, most drugs target the brains reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine. Constant use to drugs disrupts the way critical brain stuctures interact to control and inhabit behaviors related to drug use.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the brain regulates your body’s basic functions; enables you to interpret and respond to everything you experience; and shapes your thoughts, emotions, and behavior. In other words your brain controls the everyday functions needed to live a normal life. There are substances that can however, interfere with these functions, they are known as drugs. Some drugs when used as prescribed by doctors can be very useful in treating certain conditions in the body. Other Illegal drugs or prescription drugs used illegally can have detrimental effects on the body, specifically the brain. Drugs, however, can alter important brain areas that are necessary for life-sustaining functions and can drive the compulsive drug abuse that marks addiction.

For drugs to have an effect on someone, it must enter the person’s body and bloodstream so it can interact with the person’s brain. Drugs that enter the bloodstream faster tend to have more of an intense effect. Drugs affect a persons feeling, and behavior because it disrupts the communication between the brain cells. Some drugs mimic neurotransmitters; for example, heroin, and oxycontin. They change the brains opioids, so it will stimulate their receptors. Some drugs alter the neurotransmitter, by interacting with the components that sends and receives information. Also, some drugs alter the neurotransmitter by increasing and decreasing receptors.

All drugs have an effect on the brain. Addictive drugs primarily target the dopamine system, creating a 'rewarding' feeling. Within seconds of drug intrusion in the body, the drugs bring about dramatic changes to synapses in the brain. Because addictive drugs triggers a rewarding sensation within the brain, they produce a euphoric, pleasuring state of being.

To understand what effects drugs may bring, take cocaine for instance. In our brains, there are different types of neurotransmitters. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is released by a neuron. It is transmitted by binding with proteins called “dopamine receptors”.

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).