MILES O’BRIEN:
But neuropeptides are just part of the internal chemistry of reward and its link addiction. Psychiatrist Nora Volkow is director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
She is running down a pathway toward learning more about dopamine, our internally produced feel-good drug, the chemical designed to reward behavior that is important for survival, like eating, procreating or even a brisk morning run.
NORA VOLKOW, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse: When you take a drug or the drug hijacks that reward system, its system — basically, it stimulates it in a much more potent way than any natural rewards.
And that starts this cycle that, the more you take drugs, the higher it gets. The higher it gets, the worse you feel, when the normal rewards are no longer motivating to your behavior.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bjsri%2Fx6isq2ejnby4e8Goq62nnah6tryMraZmnpmjsaq6xmaaqKaemrC1tc6nZJudpKyyprqMoJynnaNirq%2BwjJqbnaGTqbawug%3D%3D