 Remember, your brain grows until what age ____???  Also, the amygdala is _______________which makes your brain more sensitive to new, exciting, dangerous experiences  Habit formation peaks now!

 You have COMPLETE control over your decisions  Alcohol and Drugs do impact: › your brain growth › Memory › Learning › Judgment › Your life!

 Drugs affect 3 main areas of the brain: › 1. Brain stem (medulla oblongata)  in charge of “4 B’s”: breathing, heart beat, body temp and blood pressure › 2. Limbic system (amygdala is in here)  Links together brain structures that control emotions like pleasure and pain › 3. Prefrontal cortex  Decision making center

Brain is very complex with billions of neurons that control all we feel, think & do.

 Drugs are chemicals and work by interfering with the way the brain and neurotransmitters work › What we saw on the last slide  Some drugs can change the brain temporarily, others change it permanently › Marijuana and heroin activate neurons because they mimic neurotransmitters and send abnormal messages to brain › Amphetamines and cocaine cause neurons to release excessive amounts of natural neurotransmitters or prevent transporters from recycling; causing exaggerated messages in the brain

 All  All drugs “hijack” the limbic system, causing unusually large amounts of neurotransmitters to flood the brain  this is the “High”  This is why drugs “feel good” to those that use  Neurotransmitters that drugs hijack: 1. Endorphins: the feel good, warm fuzzy one 2. Dopamine: pleasure, positive, motivation 3. Theobromine: stimulant, energy 4. Anandimide: cannabinoid, hallucinogenic 5. Phenylthylamine: “love drug”

 1. Tolerance  2. Physical Brain Changes  3. Addiction

 1. TOLERANCE (know this term) › Over time, you need more and more of the drug to achieve the same high › Drugs then become necessary for the person to feel “normal”  2. Drug users have physical changes in their brain that are critical to judgment, decision- making, learning, memory, and behavior

 3. Addiction is a brain disease where one has: › Uncontrollable › drug craving, seeking, & use › that continues despite negative consequences  Because your brain is still growing, addiction can happen fast  Addiction usually begins in the teen years

 Drugs disturb a person’s normal hierarchy of needs and desires  Drugs will substitutes some basic needs

 It depends: › How long did they use? › What drug and how much of it? › Brain is a vital organ so repair and recovery of the addicted brain depends on targeted and effective treatments that must address the complexity of the disease. › Research continues to gain new insights into ways to optimize treatments to counteract addiction's powerful disruptive effects on brain and behavior  What works best: prolonged abstinence, our brains can recover some of their former functioning, enabling people to regain control of their lives.  However, relapsing to drug abuse is not only possible but likely

 uk/suffolk/content/i mage_galleries/drug _awareness_2007_ga llery.shtml uk/suffolk/content/i mage_galleries/drug _awareness_2007_ga llery.shtml

 National Institute of Health (NIH) (2010). Addiction. e/essence.htm e/essence.htm  National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) (2010). Drug Abuse and Addiction.  Markowski, M. (2010). Education in Human Development and Family Science at Penn State University and Texas Women’s University.

1. Neurons in the brain communicate with each other by: › A. passing axons › B. releasing chemicals › C. instant messaging 2. When do you something you enjoy, you ________ system is activated › A. limbic › B. digestive › C. nervous

 3. When someone uses drugs repeatedly, their brain ________________ › A. becomes trained to crave the drug › B. Becomes smaller than before › C. is not changed  4. After a prolonged period of drug abuse, the brain _______________ › A. needs less drug to get the same effect › B. needs more drug to get the same effect › C. experiences increasing amounts of dopamine

 5. The brain’s reward system is part of the ____________ › A. sensory cortex › B. limbic system › C. spinal cord  6. Brain cells or neurons turn electrical impulses into ___________- › A. chemical signals › B. movement › C. axons

 7. Drugs work in the brain because they have similar _____________ › A. electrical charges as brain cells › B. size and shape as natural brain chemicals  8. Drugs of abuse create intense feelings because they __________-. › A. depress the nervous system › B. cause a rise in dopamine in the limbic system  9. drug abusers develop “tolerance” for drugs, meaning they need ______________ › A. more drug to get same effect › B. less drug to get same effect