This is your brain on drugs. [View All]

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As we look at side-by-side PET scans of a person who has never used cocaine compared with a cocaine addict, can you tell which brain is more active and healthy? Take a guess. Yes, the brain on the left with an abundance of red is the healthy, active brain.

With a little bit of knowledge about what drug addiction actually is, anyone - not just neuroscientists and neurobiologists - can see the changes in brain activity caused by drug abuse and addiction. The PET scans we’ve looked at today prove that.



What this PET scan shows us is how just 10 days of drug use can produce very dramatic and long-term changes in the brain of a monkey. The drug in these images is amphetamine, or what some people call “speed.” Remember the previous slide showed us what the brain of a chronic cocaine abuser looks like. This slide shows us what using a drug like amphetamine can do in only 10 days to the brain of a monkey.

The top row shows us, in white and red, normal brain activity. The second row shows us that same brain 4 weeks after being given amphetamine for 10 days. There is a dramatic decrease in brain activity. This decreased brain activity continues for up to 1 year after amphetamine use. These continuous brain changes often trigger other changes in social and emotional behavior, too, including a possible increase in aggressiveness, feelings of isolation, and depression.
http://www.nida.nih.gov/pubs/teaching/Teaching5/Teaching5.html



Benzene is a known carcinogen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene
Marijuana contains carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, acetone, benzene, toluene, vinyl chloride, dimethylnitrosamine, methylethylnitrosamine, benz(a)anthracene, benz(a)pyrene, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and many more. (Huber, Gary: Pharm.Biochem.Behavior Vol.40. P.630, 1991. National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine report, Washington DC 1982, Marijuana & Health 1982)