The Biology of Addiction Explained

Your brain literally rewires itself when you use drugs, and here's the scary part.

Every substance hijacks your dopamine system, the same pathway designed to reward

you for eating and survival. But drugs flood it with up to ten times more dopamine

than natural rewards. Your prefrontal cortex, the part that controls decision-making,

gets damaged while your limbic system screams for more. This is why addiction isn't a choice,

it's your brain chemistry being hijacked. Teenagers are especially vulnerable because

their prefrontal cortex won't fully develop until age twenty-five. They're literally

making life-altering decisions with an underdeveloped brain. The craziest part? Brain scans of meth