Drugs of abuse can change our mood by altering our natural brain chemistry.  Each person has a unique biological response to every drug they take. (Scientists call this biological individuality). In other words, the same drug can and probably makes two different people experience two different feelings.  This is because the same drug taken in the same dose can affect different people in different ways.

Although some drugs are more addictive than others, drug abuse and addiction do not “live in” the mood altering substance. Abuse and addiction result from a complex interaction between the drug and the brain chemistry of the person taking the drug.

Addiction results from a complex interaction
 between the drug and the brain chemistry 
of the person taking the drug.

Some people are biologically predisposed to have powerful and pleasant responses to one or more drugs, others are not.  Those who have powerful and pleasant responses to mind altering drugs are more likely to use them more frequently.

These powerful and pleasant feelings occur because the drug of abuse causes a rapid release of pleasure chemicals in the brain.  This surge of pleasure chemicals creates intense pleasure, which is called euphoria.

When you take a substance and feel euphoric, you are drunk or stoned. The high levels of pleasure chemicals make you feel exceptionally good, very powerful, capable, and essentially fearless. As a result, there is a good reason to want to use more. This euphoric feeling is so good that most people want to feel it repeatedly, and as often as possible.

Most people experiment with different kinds of alcoholic beverages and different kinds of drugs.  They find that some drugs make them feel better than others.  In other words, they find a drug of choice.  They find one specific drug that they prefer to use because it causes a rapid, powerful, and pleasurable mood altering response.  Some people have one drug of choice, and some have many.

The brains of some people will not produce a deluge of pleasure chemicals in their brain no matter what drug they use.  As a result, they never find a drug of choice.  Their brains resist the mood altering effects of most drugs.  When they use them, they experience one of two things: either nothing much happens or they start to feel bad.  Because these people usually find using alcohol or drugs to be a neutral or unpleasant experience, they do not look forward to using alcohol or other drugs and when they do use,  they use very little because they either don’t feel good or they quickly start to feel bad.  If they use at all, they do so infrequently and tend to use very small quantities to avoid the unpleasant effects.  For obvious reasons, people who are biologically unable to develop a drug of choice are at low risk for abuse and addiction.

The opposite is also true. For people who experience an intense release of pleasure chemicals when they use a drug, they want to keep using it and as a result are at a high risk of using the drug regularly, heavily.  They are also at higher risk of abusing the drug and getting addicted.  In the next Gorski Blog I’ll explain the difference between an addictive brain response and a normal brain response.

Here is the critical point that I want you to remember.  I want you to burn this idea deeply into your consciousness: Mind-altering drugs directly affect our brains and can cause brain damage. They make us feel better by disrupting the normal functioning of our brain, but we always pay a price.

Mind-altering drugs can cause brain damage. 
They make us feel better by disrupting the normal functioning of our brain. 
But we always pay a price.

Any time we take alcohol or other drugs into our bodies, we are tampering with the chemical balance of our brains.  The brain is the most important and a complex organ in the body.  Disrupting the way it works by using alcohol and other drugs can be dangerous.

Using alcohol or other drugs is like putting your brain in a bucket and pouring a combination of anesthetics and acid over it.  While the acid is damaging the brain, the anesthetic is blocking out the pain.  As a result, we feel fine, at least until the drug wears off. Once the drug wears off, we have difficulty functioning normally. The brain dysfunction associated with the use of alcohol and drugs can make it difficult to think clearly, numb and distort our feelings and emotions.

This will make our behavior difficult to control.  This condition is in its early stages and is called Post Acute Withdrawal; (PAW).  In its later stages, it can develop into permanent brain dysfunction.

Here is another thing to consider.  Some people have brains that are sensitive to and easily damaged by alcohol and other drugs.  If you are one of these unfortunate people, using drugs will do a lot of damage to your brain in a very short period of time. As a result, you will have to pay a higher price in the future for the good feelings you are getting today.

Some people have brains that are sensitive to 
and easily damaged by alcohol and other drugs.

If you are using alcohol or other drugs to handle your problems or to make you feel better, it is important to keep one thing in mind:  Life does not give free rides. There is always a price to pay.  We can pay now by stopping our use of alcohol any other drugs or we can pay later by having to deal with the pain and dysfunction of addiction.

The problem is that not everyone responds the same way to any drug.  The effect of all drug use, even medicines that don’t make us high, is a directly result of both the drug we take, and how our own unique brain chemistry responds to that drug.  Since each of our brains our different, no one will experience the exact same effect from the same drug.  In the next Gorski Blog, we will look at how this individual response to a drug can cause us to really like and crave some drugs,  feel little or no effect by others, and not like the effect of still other drugs.

The problem with the Legal Schedule of Drugs is that it does not help us to understand why people tend to use drugs in the first place. People use, abuse, and become addicted to drugs in spite of the fact that they are threatened with punishment. Imprisonment has not reduced drug use, abuse, and addiction. In fact, many maximum security prisons have a hard time keeping drugs out of the prison itself.

So, instead of defining drugs by their legal status, we are going to define them in another way, by the effect that most users experience when they use the drug. People tend to use drugs because they like their effects, they like the way the drug makes them feel. If the drug makes them feel good enough, many people are willing to risk the consequences of breaking the law in order to get and use the drug.

It can be helpful to classify drugs into one of four groups based primarily upon their mood altering effect:  The four groups of mind-altering drugs are uppers, downers, painkillers, and mind-benders.  We are going to deal with alcohol and marijuana separating them in the next Gorski Blog because although you can squeeze them to fit into one of the four categories we will discuss, they are different enough to warrant some discussion in their own right.

Uppers stimulate and excite. They stimulate the nervous system and create a sense of emotional excitement.  They speed us up.  They make us feel more alive, more energetic, and more powerful.  Some common stimulant drugs are cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, and amphetamines.  Methamphetamine has become a major problem in the United States because of its severe addictive potential.

Downers are depressant drugs that sedate and relax. They slow us down, they take the edge off. They make us feel more mellow and calm.  Some common depressant drugs are alcohol, sedatives, barbiturates, and anti-anxiety drugs.

Please notice alcohol is the most commonly used depressant drug.  People can abuse and get addicted to alcohol.  More people have serious problems with alcohol than with all other drugs of abuse combined.

Mind Benders are psychedelic drugs that alter consciousness by distorting our sensations, perceptions, and emotions.  They also distort thinking, self-image, and our sense of spirituality.  Some common psychedelic drugs are Club Drugs like Ecstasy and MDMA, LSD, PCP. Some people say marijuana and hashish fit into this category and other say that it really doesn’t. As I said before, I will deal with alcohol and marijuana in separate categories in the next Gorski Blog.

Pain Killers dull pain and create a detached sense of euphoria. They are used primary to escape pain or get away from problems.  People like to use painkillers because they block out physical pain, psychological pain, and dull unwanted thoughts.  They replace these thoughts and feelings with a detached and pleasant state of euphoria.  Narcotics make some people feel like they are floating away.  This creates the illusion that they are leaving their problems behind.  Unfortunately, the problems do not go away.  They are just temporarily blotted out by the effect of the drug. Some common narcotics are Heroin, Codeine, Morphine, Demerol, Vicodin, Oxycodone, OxyContin, Roxiset, and Roxicodone solution.

It is beyond the scope of these blogs to explain the details of how each mind-altering drug affects the brain. It is important to realize that these substances have a powerful physical affect on how your brain functions and that each general class of drugs (described above as uppers, downers, mind-benders, and pain killers) are designed to produce a specific change in brain chemistry. This creates a specific effect upon how we think, feel.  In the Next Gorski Blog, I will explain what these drugs do to your brain.

Mind-altering drugs are chemical agents that alter brain chemistry our in a way that changes how we think, we feel, act, and relate to other people. In other words, mind-altering substances physically change how your brain works.  Taking a mind-altering substance is a lot like letting a surgeon operate on your brain using a rusty scalpel.  Let me explain why I say this.

The human brain is a complex chemical factory.  Millions of nerve cells communicate with each other by releasing and absorbing chemicals called neurotransmitters. Mind-altering substances change our thoughts, our feelings, and our behaviors by changing the levels of neurotransmitters in our brain cells.  Different mind-altering substances stimulate or inhibit the production of different neurotransmitters.  As a result, different types of drugs produce different mind-altering effects.

There are many different types of mind-altering substances.  The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 defines five categories of controlled substances that are dangerous enough to be controlled by law.  It is important for actively using addicts and those in relationship with them know which drugs are illegal and what the legal penalty are for being caught buying, possessing, using or selling these drugs.  The penalties can be quite high and no addict is immune from being caught.

Potential drugs of abuse are legally classified using four criteria: (1) the drug has a high potential for abuse as demonstrated by the fact that many users start to abuse and get addicted to the drug, (2) the drug has limited medical usefulness, or there are other drugs with a lower addiction potential can that can meet the same medical need, (3) the drug has a high potential for dependency or addiction if a person starts using it, and (4) the drug needs special control and monitoring procedures to minimize the risk of abuse and addiction among the general population.

There are five categories of controlled substances, which if used or misused become illegal drugs of abuse. Here is a description of each of the five schedules or categories of these drugs.

Schedule I drugs have a high abuse potential and no accepted medical use. This schedule includes drugs such as heroin, marijuana, LSD. (See Appendix 1)

Schedule II drugs have a high potential for abuse and a high risk of severe psychological and/or physical dependency and addiction. These risks, however, are offset because in certain situations they have significant medical value. Examples of schedule II substances include narcotics, amphetamines, and barbiturates. Prescriptions for Schedule II substances can never be ordered with refills and must be filled within 7 days of the date originally written.

Schedule III substances have less potential for abuse than Schedule II substances and moderate dependence liability. Examples of Schedule III substances include nonbarbiturate sedatives, nonamphetamine stimulants, and medications that contain a limited quantity of certain narcotics. Schedule III drugs also have significant medical value in certain circumstances. Prescriptions must be filled within 30 days of the date written and may be refilled up to five times within 6 months.

Schedule IV substances have less abuse potential than Schedule III substances and limited dependence liability. Prescriptions must be filled within 30 days of the date written and may be refilled up to five times within a 6-month period. (See Appendix 4)

Schedule V substances have limited abuse potential and are primarily antitussives or antidiarrheals that contain small amounts of narcotics such as codeine. Prescriptions must be filled within 30 days of the date written and may be refilled up to five times within 6 months. (See Appendix 5)

It’s important to understand the schedule of controlled drugs because using or selling drugs in Schedule I or illegally obtaining, possessing, using, or selling prescription guidelines for schedules II and III could put you in jail for a long time.

Legal classification is useful in warning people about what drugs are dangerous and in providing legal definition for use in a criminal trial and in sentencing guidelines.  I have found that the legal classification system does very little to help addicts understand why they are drawn to and tend to addicted to these drugs in spite of the risks.

To understand this, let’s look at a way of classifying the alcohol and other drugs of abuse by the effects each class of drugs was designed to have on the people using it.  This will be the subject of the next Gorski Blog.