Gabrielle Noland

November 5, 2018

Dr. Cassella

Addiction Reflection

Addiction can be seen as one of the major issues in society nowadays. With the rising
popularization of drugs throughout the years, it has affected the lives of many people. It is hard
to even target an age range, because drugs are so available nowadays and most people don’t
report for their case of addiction. There are also many different types of drugs that people can
become addicted to, causing there to be a lot of different cases of addictions. One of the biggest
arguments I have had with one of my friends has been whether marijuana can be addictive or not.
They claimed is was not and I claimed that it could be in certain cases. The major difference was
that I had someone very close to me leave their successful life in order to manufacture and use
the drug, they were a user of the drug, and I had never even touched it. So, it came down to
experience and observation. The argument is still in play, due to the fact that they think they can
handle it and they refuse to believe that it can be addictive.

Given this argument, I really enjoyed reading the Cadet article that looked at
neuropathology of substance use disorders. They brought up the fact that addiction can affect
your motivation, memory, reward, and decision-making. Addictions are brain disorders that
affect the circuits/neural pathways that regulate these behaviors. One of the things I was unaware
of was how certain drugs create certain dependent effects. For example, with the use of cocaine
or marijuana a psychological dependence can be created where the user has an obsession to have
the initial experience of the euphoric high they once had. In the instance of using opiates, a
physical and psychological dependence can be induced.

The section I was most interested in reading was marijuana use disorder. With the
amount of people that have become so open about using this drug, I was always very curious
about if it can be addictive or maybe they are and can just casually use it. Not having experience
obviously effects my opinion, but I also feel that by observing I can also see whether this drug
has a distinct impact on their life or not. Of course the drug use and how addictive it is can be
specific for each person, but I wonder how specific that addiction can be. One thing I wish I
could do is do a study on how addictive it is among groups of people such as how much they use
it, how often they feel the need to use it, if it effects their lives, etc.

The brain region involved in addiction is the brain’s reward system. This plays a large
factor in addiction. One of the ways it contributes to addiction is that natural rewards and
addictive drugs increase the release of dopamine from the terminals of dopaminergic projections
emanating from the ventral tegmental area. Dopamine helps control the brain’s reward system
and pleasure centers. With the uptake in dopamine, it creates a craving for the drug to satisfy this
want and to get the sensations from the drugs. What I found to also be interesting is that chronic
cannabis users can also have a psychological and physical dependence on the drug. Regular users
can have a higher risk of developing psychotic disorders. I found this interesting, because it
affirms the idea that cannabis can be addictive and does actually affect the brain. Aside from
marijuana, I enjoyed learning about the specific effects each drug can have on our brains and
bodies. I would like to see how they develop the idea that addiction can be classified as a
neurological disorder and more research done toward it.