The Brain: How Drugs Affect The Brain

Drugs have a major impact on all of the organs in the body, but the brain is affected most by drug use. The brain is complex and communicates via nuerons and nerve cells to command the body. The brain ensures the body performs the necessary functions for survial. Drugs can compromise the brain's ability to properly communicate to the organs in the body. Drugs affect communication and a person's behavior. The following presentation will provide an explanation as to how drugs affect the brain

The brain is a network made up of nuerons, neurotransmitters, receptors, and transporters. Drugs are chemicals that affect the way this network operates. They tamper with the way the brain sends, receives, and processes this information. There are two main ways drugs affect the brain; they imitate the brain's natural chemical messenger and they overstimulate the "reward circuit" of the brain. Drugs create a "high" effect for the user because they release dopamine into the brain, which causes extreme happiness. The body naturally produces dopamine, but limits the amount that floods the system at one time. When a person experiences something that scares them or makes them happy, the body is signaled to
The brain is not producing the dopamine it needs, and is not able to communicate correctly with the body. The person's ability to feel pleasure is significantly reduced, and they need the drugs to cope with every day life. They feel depressed, lifeless, and unable to enjoy activites that once brought them pleasure. They need the drugs just to maintain a normal life, and they have made their brains believe they need the drugs as well. Different drugs have different affects but the end result is all the same. Overtime, drugs can cause irreversable damage to the neurons and brain circuits. Even if the drugs are discontinued, the damage may still be