Dopamine: The Key to Movement and Addiction

Your brain can literally freeze you in place from a single drug dose. In the 1980s,

seven young drug users in California suddenly developed full-blown Parkinsons disease overnight.

They injected synthetic heroin contaminated with MPTP, a chemical that selectively destroys

the dopamine neurons controlling movement. Within days, they were frozen, unable to move voluntarily.

This same dopamine system is why addicts relapse from just seeing a crack pipe or hearing a familiar

sound. It's why schizophrenia patients hallucinate and why Parkinsons patients can barely

walk. One neurotransmitter, dopamine, controls everything from your ability

to move to your vulnerability to addiction. Damage it, and your body becomes