The Molecule of More

THE MOLECULE OF MORE

Patrick Kennedy, the former U.S. representative for Rhode Island’s

1st Congressional District, and son of the late Massachusetts senator

Ted Kennedy, understands the diminishing stimulation of drug use.

Arguably the foremost advocate for brain research and improved men-

tal health services in the United States, he himself struggled with addic-

tions and mental illness, publicly acknowledging his problems after he

drove into a barricade at the U.S. Capitol in the middle of the night.

In a 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl he spoke of the need to use,

even in the absence of pleasure.

There’s no partying there. There’s no enjoyment. This is about relieving

the pain. People have this mistaken notion that you get high. What you’re

really getting is relief from the low.

This is why, even if an addict uses so much cocaine (or heroin or alcohol
or marijuana) that it no longer leads to feeling high, he will continue to
use it.
Remember the happy surprise of the bakery with the delicious crois-
sants and  coffee? You  were walking along expecting nothing, something 
good appeared, and your dopamine system leaped into action—hence
your “prediction” was wrong, and you experienced the burst of dopa-
mine from reward prediction error. You started going to that bakery
every day. Now imagine that you’re waiting in line for your morning
coffee and  croissant, and  all  of a  sudden your phone rings. It’s  your 
boss. There’s a crisis at work. Drop whatever you’re doing, she says, and
get  to  the  office right away. Assuming you’re a  conscientious person, 
you’ll leave the bakery empty-handed, feeling resentful and deprived.
Now let’s say it’s Saturday night, and an addict’s brain is expecting
the usual Saturday-night “treat,” cocaine, but it doesn’t come. Just like
the  croissant-deprived office worker, the  drug-deprived addict will  feel 
resentful and deprived.
When an  expected reward fails  to  materialize, the  dopamine system 
shuts down. In  scientific terms, when the  dopamine system is  at  rest, 
it  fires  at  a  leisurely three to five  times per  second. When it’s  excited, 
it  zooms up  to  twenty to  thirty times per  second. When an  expected