Drug Abuse and Addiction

L E S S O N

4

Explain/Elaborate

Drug Abuse

and Addiction

Photo: Corel

Overview

Students examine data from animal experiments, play a card game, and

examine a case study. They learn that although the initial decision to take

drugs of abuse is voluntary, continued use may lead to addiction, which

is the continued compulsive abuse of drugs despite adverse consequences.

Students then watch a minidocumentary online to learn how drugs cause

long-term changes in the brain.

Major Concept

Addiction is a brain disease.

Objectives

By the end of these activities, the students will

• understand that drug abuse initially is a voluntary behavior,

• be able to define drug addiction as the continued compulsive

drug abuse despite known adverse health or social consequences,

• understand that drug abuse and addiction are associated with

long-term physical and functional changes in the brain, and

• recognize that addiction is influenced by biological factors (for example,

genetics and age) and by the social and behavioral context of drug use.

Basic Science–Health Connection

Drug addiction is a complex brain disease. Preventing drug abuse and

addiction and treating the disease effectively require understanding the

biological, genetic, social, psychological, and environmental factors that

predispose individuals to drug addiction.

91

At a Glance

The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology Through the Study of Addiction

Background

Information

Individuals make choices to begin using drugs. Some people begin using

drugs to relieve a medical condition and then continue to use the drugs

after the medical need is over. Children or teens who are depressed or who

have another psychiatric disorder sometimes begin using illicit drugs in an

attempt to self-medicate. Other people begin taking drugs to feel pleasure,

to escape the pressures of life, or to alter their view of reality. This voluntary

initiation into the world of...