DRUG ABUSE EFFECTS

To best understand drug abuse and its effects, it is necessary to have an understanding of the brain processes. The brain is the most complex of all out body organs. It is a 3-pound mass that affects everything that the human body does internally or externally, be it when driving, eating, painting and many others. It shapes the thoughts, affects the behavior and emotions. Drugs can alter the critical portions of the brain and its life functions. The most affected parts are the brain stem, limbic system and the cerebral cortex. The brain communicates using the neurons or nerve cells and they help in passing messages from one area to the next and also move across from the central to peripheral nervous system. The brain uses neurons, neurotransmitters, receptors and transporters.

Drugs are synthetic chemicals. What they do is hitchhike through the communications channel of the brain and they interfere with how the brain does its daily traffic of sending and receiving messages. There are some drugs like heroin and marijuana that have si9milar structures as the neurotransmitters that can actually activate the neurons. The receptors are then fooled and they open the lock and allow the drugs to tamper with the nerve cells. Even If the structure of these chemicals is similar to neurotransmitters, they do not function the same and it could lead to the sending of abnormal messages. Some drugs release abnormal levels of neurotransmitters or prevent the recycling of them, ultimately changing the natural processing of the brain transmission and reception.

People feel pleasure due to drugs because of insane amounts of dopamine that regulate cognition, movement and pleasure. If the brain has abnormal levels of dopamine, they will have intensified feelings of pleasure and they will seek that feeling again. The brain is naturally designed to the concept of rewards and pleasure. Whenever a reward has been made, the brain notes it and it will seek for more without the human manually thinking about it. If the levels of dopamine lower, people will feel, flat and it will seek more but in higher doses due to tolerance. Overall, the self-control of the person is affected and the ability of the individual to make decisions will be affected. Once the body is affected overdose can become the result, causing adverse effects to the heart, the internal organs and it could result to stroke, heart failure, and many other effects.