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Why are opiates and nicotine so addictive?

Updated: 8/17/2019
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14y ago

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Both compounds contain powerful psychoactive chemicals which interact with the Central Nervous System at a cellular level.
These chemicals pass from our blood into the nourishing "soup" that surrounds our brain cells.
They mimic chemical messengers already present in our brains and bind to the receptors of specific nerve cells like a "lock and key". When this happens, the likelihood of the cell to fire a signal to its neighboring neurons is either amplified or diminished. The neuron is said to be "activated" or "depressed", respectfully.

Addictive chemicals such as nicotine and opiates activate nerve cells in the deep structures of our brains which are involved in the sensation of pleasure.
Two important "nuclei" or brain cell clusters which are integral to the sensation of pleasure and are activated by the aforementioned drugs are the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmentum.

Addictive chemicals like nicotine, cocaine and heroine basically hijack the "Reward Circuitry" in our brains which evolved to reinforce critical behaviors such as eating and mating.

They skip right to the chase: "Do that again!" our brain tells us.
With each subsequent exposure to these compounds, the drive to repeat the action (ie. smoking, popping pills, etc.) is reinforced.

The likelihood of a person becoming addicted to these drugs is also effected by a wide range of complex psychological/social factors related to use such as peer acceptance, escapism or emotional states such as stress or depression.
There seems to be a genetic component to the addiction puzzle as a person with relatives who have at one point been addicted to a drug are themselves more likely to become addicted.
Negative experiences while using these drugs (such as getting sick) can counteract the addiction process.

People who take nicotine/opiates/stimulants/whatever for an extended period of time go past the point of psychological addiction and into the realm of Physical Dependency. When a person is dependent on an exogenous (from outside the body) chemical, certain parts of their neural circuitry essentially cannot function as normal because they are so "used to" the presence of the drug.

Remove the drug from your system and the hundreds of thousands of nerve cells that the drug had been stimulating all of a sudden can't get their "fix".
A wide range of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms (commonly called "D.T.'s") then ensue as your nervous system tries balance itself back out.

Withdrawal symptoms include headaches, moodiness and lethargia in the case of nicotine and severe flu-like symptoms in the case of opiates.
When it comes to depressants such as barbiturates and alcohol, seizures and death are real threats for heavy users.
Fear of these painful withdrawal symptoms is one the biggest challenges facing a person wishing to kick an addictive habit.

The moral of the story is to be very careful with everything you put in your body.
If you do not respect the power that these chemicals possess, they most certainly will not respect you!

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Q: Why are opiates and nicotine so addictive?
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