Brains May Be Wired for Addiction

On February 2, 21012, a BBC Report explained how abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts.  The study, conducted by the University of Cambridge, England and funded by the Medical Research Council, attempted to determine if some people’s brains are hard-wired for addiction.

The study tried to answer that question by comparing the brains of 50 cocaine or crack addicts with the brain of their brother or sister, who had always been clean.  Both the addicts and the non-addict siblings had the same abnormalities in the region of the brain which controls behavior, the fronto-striatal systems.  They found the same differences in the brains of addicts and their non-addicted brothers and sisters. 

The study, published in the journal Science, suggested addiction is in part a "disorder of the brain".  Other experts said the non-addicted siblings offered hope of new ways of teaching addicts self-control.  It has long been established that the brains of drug addicts have some differences to other people, but explaining that finding has been more difficult.  Experts were unsure whether drugs changed the wiring of the brain or if drug addicts' brains were wired differently in the first place.