A comprehensive multidisciplinary review of the most relevant molecular, genetic, and behavioral approaches used to investigate the neurobiological basis of drug addiction. The authors explore the latest findings on opioid, psychostimulant, cannabinoid, alcohol, and nicotine addiction, provide fresh insights into the genetic basis of drug addiction and the new therapeutic perspectives these have opened. They describe the technology available to generate conditional knockout mice and show how these mice can reveal the molecular basis of opioid, psychostimulant, and cannabinoid addiction. They also review the different behavioral models available to evaluate the rewarding effects of drugs and analyze the genes involved in alcohol dependence.

A comprehensive multidisciplinary review of the most relevant molecular, genetic, and behavioral approaches used to investigate the neurobiological basis of drug addiction. The authors explore the latest findings on opioid, psychostimulant, cannabinoid, alcohol, and nicotine addiction, provide fresh insights into the genetic basis of drug addiction and the new therapeutic perspectives these have opened. They describe the technology available to generate conditional knockout mice and show how these mice can reveal the molecular basis of opioid, psychostimulant, and cannabinoid addiction. They also review the different behavioral models available to evaluate the rewarding effects of drugs and analyze the genes involved in alcohol dependence.

This monograph, written by experts in the field, is devoted to the molecular analysis of addiction pathways in the brain. It provides an intensive overview of the fundamentals, state of the art advances, and major gaps in the cell and molecular biology of drug addiction within the broader context of neuroscience. Addiction research is a branch of neuroscience and psychology. The emphasis in this book is on hard science and the market for it will be found among research investigators and grad students within the field of neuroscience. The research presented is not only applicable to the study of drug abuse and addiction, but has clear implications for clarifying mechanisms of learning and memory, neuroadaptation, perception, volitional behavior, motivation, reward, and other disciplines of neuroscience.

Biological Research on Addiction examines the neurobiological mechanisms of drug use and drug addiction, describing how the brain responds to addictive substances as well as how it is affected by drugs of abuse. The book's four main sections examine behavioral and molecular biology; neuroscience; genetics; and neuroimaging and neuropharmacology as they relate to the addictive process. This volume is especially effective in presenting current knowledge on the key neurobiological and genetic elements in an individual's susceptibility to drug dependence, as well as the processes by which some individuals proceed from casual drug use to drug dependence. Biological Research on Addiction is one of three volumes comprising the 2,500-page series, Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders. This series provides the most complete collection of current knowledge on addictive behaviors and disorders to date. In short, it is the definitive reference work on addictions. - Each article provides glossary, full references, suggested readings, and a list of web resources - Edited and authored by the leaders in the field around the globe – the broadest, most expert coverage available - Discusses the genetic basis of addiction - Covers basic science research from a variety of animal studies

This volume of Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science focuses on the molecular basis of drug addiction. - Contains contributions from leading authorities - Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field

Drug addiction as a brain disease is this book's theme. In clear scientific terms it describes the nature of chemical addiction and addictive behaviour and the muddied effort to develop effective drug control policies and laws.

Through the vivid, true stories of five people who journeyed into and out of addiction, a renowned neuroscientist explains why the "disease model" of addiction is wrong and illuminates the path to recovery. The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease. But in The Biology of Desire, cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease, and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing. Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it's supposed to do-seek pleasure and relief-in a world that's not cooperating. As a result, most treatment based on the disease model fails. Lewis shows how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery. This is enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From a renowned behavioral neuroscientist and recovering addict, a rare page-turning work of science that draws on personal insights to reveal how drugs work, the dangerous hold they can take on the brain, and the surprising way to combat today's epidemic of addiction. Judith Grisel was a daily drug user and college dropout when she began to consider that her addiction might have a cure, one that she herself could perhaps discover by studying the brain. Now, after twenty-five years as a neuroscientist, she shares what she and other scientists have learned about addiction, enriched by captivating glimpses of her personal journey. In Never Enough, Grisel reveals the unfortunate bottom line of all regular drug use: there is no such thing as a free lunch. All drugs act on the brain in a way that diminishes their enjoyable effects and creates unpleasant ones with repeated use. Yet they have their appeal, and Grisel draws on anecdotes both comic and tragic from her own days of using as she limns the science behind the love of various drugs, from marijuana to alcohol, opiates to psychedelics, speed to spice. With more than one in five people over the age of fourteen addicted, drug abuse has been called the most formidable health problem worldwide, and Grisel delves with compassion into the science of this scourge. She points to what is different about the brains of addicts even before they first pick up a drink or drug, highlights the changes that take place in the brain and behavior as a result of chronic using, and shares the surprising hidden gifts of personality that addiction can expose. She describes what drove her to addiction, what helped her recover, and her belief that a “cure” for addiction will not be found in our individual brains but in the way we interact with our communities. Set apart by its color, candor, and bell-clear writing, Never Enough is a revelatory look at the roles drugs play in all of our lives and offers crucial new insight into how we can solve the epidemic of abuse.

This book is the culmination of five years of debate among distinguished scholars in law, public policy, medicine, and biopsychology, about the most difficult questions in drug policy and the study of addictions. Do drug addicts have an illness, or is the addiction under their control? Should they be treated as patients or as criminals? Challenging the conventional wisdom, the authors show that these standard dichotomies are false.