Common properties of addictive drugs

Common properties of addictive drugs The temporal profile of costs and benefits. The positive hedonic effects of drug use are virtually immediate, whereas the costs are delayed and probabilistic. For instance, many smokers do not get cancer, and the delay from the onset of smoking to smoking-related illnesses is measured in decades. In contrast, the rewarding pharmacological and sensory effects of smoking are immediate and certain, taking place in seconds. Sites of action, dose levels, psychological implications. With the exception of alcohol, addictive drugs bind to subcellular neuronal components that mediate neuronal communication. Consequently, they are highly potent; miniscule (milligram) doses produce dramatic changes in thought, feeling, and action. Nevertheless, the dose levels for self-administered drugs are several orders of magnitude greater than their naturally occurring counterparts (e.g., Comer et al. 2010; Dole 1980). This difference has important psychological implications. First, drugs are not satiating in the sense that food and drink are. This means that there are no naturally occurring self-inhibiting processes as in food consumption. Rather, the user has to judge whether he or she has taken enough drug. Second, addictive drugs can produce psychological effects that have no peer. For instance, a common theme in memoirs and interviews with addicts is that their drug highs are unlike anything else. Typical accounts of heroin include the following: “filling me up with a sensation I never felt before. . . . [i]t was the most intense nothingness there ever was. . . . There’s no right, no wrong. Everything’s beautiful.” Addictive drugs corner the market on intoxication.