Brain Without Drugs

Lots of people say that drug addiction is a brain disease. However, many would argue that it is a choice. Changes happen in the brain all the time due to thinking, sleeping and even just listening. Normal behavior changes the brain but the drugs change the brain more for the worse no matter how little the dosage. Addicts have the power to say no and quit their addiction for something that means more to them such as money. Choices do not happen without the brain, that's because different decisions are made in different regions. Changes happen in the brain without drugs, the drugs do worsen the changes but are not a ¨disease¨ inside the brain. A disease is an illness that attacks your immune system such as the common cold, the flu and even …show more content…
More often than not, the subjects choose the five dollar voucher or the five dollars cash over the drug. When offered a higher dose they refused the money, but when making the reward higher to twenty dollars they choose the money. This shows the subjects still had some will power to refused the drug of choice. First “studies show the brain was a dopamine-driven compulsion that hijacked the brain and took over free will.” (Dr. Hart p.3). He was taught this as a graduate student, but conducting his own experiments now he was proven wrong. Studies going all the way back to the 1960’s show that many people have the willpower to stop or modify their addiction in response to being rewarded for their behavior (Satel, Sep. 2013). This shows that addicts can stop on their own with incentives, but they are making that choice between drugs and benefits.Changes in an addicts brain are not abnormal. “The changes in the brain evidenced by brain scans of heavy substance users do not represent a malfunctioning brain.”(TED p.4). …show more content…
Drugs affect the prefrontal cortex which is the front of your brain and the last to develop. The prefrontal cortex is where you make all your logical, smart and correct decisions and it in weakened and damaged by the chemicals in drugs. “Taking mind altering substances for the first time is a free choice.” (NIH, 1). The first time you start taking drugs the brain starts to become more damaged and it worsened because people chase their first high and they can’t reach that point anymore. “Choices do not happen without the brain.” (NIH, 2). Our brain works with our body to make the decisions about the choices we make. “The choices aren’t always good, but their can be something done about it”(Nora, 3) . Our brain warns us of the consequences before we