The Addicted Brain: Why We Abuse Drugs, Alcohol, and Nicotine

2. Hardwired: What Animals Tell Us About the Human Desire for Drugs

“I gotta get a hit. I steal money, leave work in the middle of the day to get high, and I can’t stop. What’s happened to me?”

For many years, doctors and scientists have been trying to figure out how addiction works and how addicts can be treated. The research has become sophisticated with elaborate laboratories for human subjects in many of our best medical centers. Hundreds and hundreds of publications every year describe new findings that promise a better understanding of and improved treatments for drug abusers.

Studies with animals, in addition to humans, have been helpful. In fact, using animals in research has a number of advantages over studying humans.¹ Importantly, ...