The Molecule of More

DRUGS

stimulates additional dopamine release, but it’s cheaper and easier to
get.
Nicotine, in fact, is an unusual drug because it does very little except
trigger compulsive use.  According to  researcher Roland R.  Griffiths, 
PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hop-
kins University School of Medicine, “When you give people nicotine
for  the  first  time, most people don’t like  it.  It’s  different from many 
other addictive drugs, for  which most people say  they enjoy the  first 
experience and would try it again.” Nicotine doesn’t make you high
like marijuana or intoxicated like alcohol or wired up like speed. Some
people say it makes them feel more relaxed or more alert, but really, the
main thing it does is relieve cravings for itself. It’s the perfect circle. The
only point of smoking cigarettes is to get addicted so one can experi-
ence the pleasure of relieving the unpleasant feeling of craving, like a
man who carries around a rock all day because it feels so good when he
puts it down.
Addiction arises from the chemical cultivation of desire. The deli-
cate system that tells us what we like or dislike is no match for the raw
power of dopaminergic compulsion. The feeling of wanting becomes
overwhelming and utterly detached from whether the object of desire is
anything we really care for, is good for us, or might kill us. Addiction is
not a sign of weak character or a lack of willpower. It occurs when the
desire circuits get thrown into a pathological state by overstimulation.
Prod dopamine too hard and too long, and its power comes roaring
out. Once it has taken charge of a life, it is difficult to tame. 

THE PARKINSON’S PATIENT WHO LOST

HIS HOME TO VIDEO POKER

Recreational drugs aren’t the only ones that stimulate dopamine. There
are prescription drugs that do it as well, and when they hit the desire
circuit too hard, strange things can happen. Parkinson’s disease is
an  illness of dopamine deficiency in  a  pathway that’s responsible for 
controlling muscle movements. Or, to put it more simply, it’s how we