Do drugs turn your brains into fried eggs?
Nancy Reagan said yes in her “Just Say No” campaign, but Carleton neuroscience professor Kim Hellemans argued no March 14 during the bi-weekly Science Cafe.
Hellemans said the “facts” people have been told by anti-drug campaigns aren’t so much scientific truths as they are a tactic to scare away young people.
“Drugs do not cause your brain to shrivel up,” she said. “They do not kill off neurons like many people say . . . and using a drug once will not automatically mean you are addicted to the drug.”
Although Hellemans spent most of the evening talking about the real affects of drugs on the brain and how that translates into behavioural change, she was quick to mention that graphic advertisements against drug abuse do “nothing to prevent young people from taking drugs.”
The brain, Hellamans explained, is made up of cells called neurons. These neurons are connected by long axons which interact with each other, releasing neurochemicals as a result of changes in the body.
“For instance, during a high adrenalin situation like a football game, a player who would hurt his leg would not feel anything because the brain would release endomorphine [which] would mask the pain until he would leave for the sideline and remove himself from the high adrenalin situation,” she said. “This is a byproduct of the past when survival depended on masking
pain in order to flee or fight.”
Drugs are damaging in part because they enter the brain’s capillary system and then work their way from neuron to neuron, altering the way the neurons react.
“The drugs are also damaging because they cause the brain to release excessive amounts of dopamine (a chemical used to indicate pleasure in the brain), so the brain begins to associate the drug, the dealer, or even the areas these drugs are bought in with pleasure,” she said. “Much like someone who craves doughnuts begins to associate the Krispy Kreme logo with pleasure.”
How much you need to take to become addicted really depends on your personality, Hellemans said.
“People with impulsive personalities or people who are more likely to take risks may react differently to drugs than other people,” she said. “We need to work harder on preventing conditions that help impulsive personalities get into drugs . . . In the end, it will be scientific explanations that will help addicted people rather than the scare tactics of ‘Just Say No.'”
