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How does heroin addiction work?
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Heroin is highly addictive, physically and psychologically. Not only that, repeated use very soon results in tolerance. How does this work? Just as your brain adapts to the presence of something new, there is neuroadaptation when it leaves the brain. Through neuroadaptation the brain changes its function to compensate for the presence or absence of the drug. But if you increase your intake of heroin, the brain attempts to adapt to that too. After constant consumption and ongoing adaptation, it will now take more heroin to produce the same effect as the first hit. Tolerance has developed and substantial adaptation has taken place. This is why you have to take more and more heroin to produce the effect you want. Many users respond to this by changing their method of taking the drug from smoking to injecting, which carries many more health risks. |
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