Addiction in Daily Life~ Tracing the Effcts of Nicotine on the Brain

Addiction in Daily Life

We were told to discuss our addictions and how they affect our brains, and by this time they knew i did not fit with them and visa versa.  Besides, tobacco is a Sacred Plant in my religion.

Greetings Miss Beth and Classmates,
 

1) Would you or your subject still seek these drugs if they were made illegal? Why or why not?  Of course, I would still smoke cigarettes if they became illegal because I feel that an outside party who will allow toxic chemicals to be added to consumer goods has no right to tell me that I cannot roll and smoke mild pipe tobacco (Martin, 2015). Also our text states that tobacco produces a stimulating affect when it is taken in short puffs and nicotine stimulates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors that creates a positive mood affect (Garrett, 2015). When I don’t smoke I am irritable and miserable, and regardless of the reason it’s tough enough in life so that I am happy to feel good without taking any prescriptions because, to me, life is about quality and not quantity.
 

2) Using the Neurotransmitters Matching presentation from Unit 2, can you trace the neural pathways involved in the addiction cycle? In withdrawal?

On the presynaptic neuron nicotine adheres to specific receptors at the cell body or the nerve terminal (The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology, n.d.). At the neuron more electrical signals (symbolized by the jagged shape in the lower left of the diagram) which go to the synapse causing the release of more dopamine (absent from diagram) (The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology, n.d.). At the nerve terminal (above diagram) nicotine binding causes the amount of released dopamine responds to an increase in action potential (The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology, n.d.).
Robinson (1993) state that “sensitization of the neural systems responsible for incentive salience (for ‘wanting’) can occur independently of changes in neural systems that mediate the subjective pleasurable effects of drugs (drug ‘liking’) and of neural systems that mediate withdrawal” (para.5).
 

Garrett, B. (2015). Brain & behavior: An introduction to biological psychology
(4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
 

Martin, Terry. (7 July, 2015). Cigarette Additives - The Sneaky Reasons They're
Present. Very Well. Retrieved from https://www.verywell.com/cigarette-additives-2824737
 

Robinson, Terry E., and Berridge, Kent C. (1993). "The Neural Basis of Drug
Craving: An Incentive-Sensitization Theory of Addiction". Brain Research
Reviews, volume 18, issue 3, pages 247–291.
 

The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology. (n.d.). Lesson 3—Explain/Elaborate
Drugs Change the Way Neurons Communicate. The Brain: Understanding
Neurobiology. Retrieved from
https://science.education.nih.gov/.../guide/lesson3-1.html