The reward of drugs in the brain triggers behaviors that push us to seek them

“Drugs kidnap, hack our central nervous system; They take it to total exaggeration and then wear it down,” said Silvia Cruz Martín del Campo, researcher at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) of the National Polytechnic Institute.

In the conference Decoding the brain, impact of drugs on our mindpart of the Universities in Science cycle, organized by El Colegio Nacional, the specialist defined drug addiction as consumption despite being aware of the harm and wishing not to do so.

He pointed out that the reward that narcotics produce in the brain is so strong that triggers substance-seeking behavior.

The scientist classifies drugs according to the effects they produce. The first group is depressants, which inhibit the functions of the central nervous system, such as alcohol, monas or substances that have clinical value, but that are not prescribed, cause a decrease in brain function.

The second group is that of stimulants of the central nervous system, among which are cocaine, amphetamines, crystal, ecstasy; These bring the central system upwards (so) that a lot of excitatory substance is released.”

The third group corresponds to hallucinogens, LSD, opioids and cannabinoids.

He indicated that there are an average of 200 known substances that cause addiction, but if other psychoactive elements are considered, that is, those that are being synthesized from all groups to be sold as drugs, there are more than 900.

They release dopamine

Cruz Martín del Campo added that “drugs they talk dopamine, just as we speak Spanish or any other language, and that neurotransmitter is important for the brain to remember some things and do them again.

“By releasing dopamine, they get into the brain and make it believe that consuming them is as important as some essential things to survive, such as reproducing or eating. The drugs hack the system, and they tell him: remember, repeat it, it is important.”

Andrés Agoitia Polo, a graduate of the Faculty of Psychology and thesis student at the Institute of Cellular Physiology, both at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, explained that when a person ingests addictive substances, they go directly to the circuits in the brain and are processed as useful, important information.

As will be remembered, The brain is made up of millions of neurons that communicate through electrical and chemical signals, and has evolved to favor actions aimed at our survival and reproduction.he pointed out.

He added that in the human brain there is a nucleus to which dopaminergic terminals reach, and that “speaks dopamine and whose signals have to do with the subjective perception of reward.

If the stimulus is attractive enough, it will overshadow other stimuli that would be competing for the attention, behavior, or resources available to an animal: time, effort. When we find very intense rewards, we dedicate more time to them than is appropriate.

He explained that addictive substances release dopamines in the circuits, but they do so in an unconventional way (as produced by food, reproduction), since they promote a greater release, and that dopamine remains for longer, and these two characteristics They are important because they interfere with the development of addictions.