Substance P, I think they were having a slow day in the lab when they came up with that. Brain chemicals are the building blocks of human beings, yet the majority of us remain blissfully ignorant to their work.
Unless of course a head shop opened up in your fluffy sleepy hamlet. The outcry against headshops is only justified if a similar level of outrage can be mustered outside of pubs and clubs at closing time. My 13 year old has been visited in school by the Gardai and given the 'your brain on drugs' rhetoric, no doubt exacerbated by the new head shop in Ennis. Lately we watched a man so drunk he looked like he was trying to walk into the path of a hurricane and I suggested to him that drink was as harmful a drug as any.
Any drug you take in acts on what you already have. We posess all the necessary chemicals to produce the effects of any drugs, but in a normal state our body regluates the ammount of chemical in your system at any one time. What drugs do is convince it that its doing it wrong and either convinces it to produce more, use less or turn off. Your brain is a highly complex mass of electrical relay systems, how these little buggers light up, how often and for how long depends on chemicals. Specifically neurotransmitters.
Whats a neurotransmitter?
.................................................Glad you asked
Every feeling, sensation, sense, action and behaviour is controlled by these chemical reactions, its like the matrix, there is no spoon... well not if the chemicals don't release and tell your brain to search for the relevant visual cues..
There are different types of neurotransmitters, you may have heard of some of them.
Dopamine | Involved in regulation of movement, reward and punishment, pleasure, energy | Every drug that affects feelings of pleasure, including Cocaine, Amphetamine, opiates, marijuana, heroin and PCP |
| Epinephrine (also called Adrenaline) | Excitatory neurotransmitter involved in arousal and alertness | |
| Norepinephrine (also called Noradrenaline) | Involved in arousal and alertness, energy and feelings of pleasure | Stimulants |
| Serotonin | Involved in regulation of mood and impulsivity | Alcohol, Hallucinogens, Stimulants, Anti-depressants |
| Acetylcholine | Inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in movement, memory function, motivation and sleep | PCP and hallucinogens, Marijuana, Stimulants |
| GABA (Gamma Aminobutyric Acid) | Inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in arousal, judgment and impulsiveness | Depressant drugs, Marijuana |
| Glutamate | Excitatory neurotransmitter | |
| Endorphins | Substances involved in pain relief and reward/punishment | Opioids, Depressants |
All of these chemicals are present in your brain at all times, all drugs do is activate or suppress them. Drugs make their effects known by acting to enhance or interfere with the activity of neurotransmitters and receptors within the synapses of the brain. A synapse is the gap between one neuron and another, think of it like a series of signal fires on top of hills (I'm thinking of the call to Gondor in Return of the King -Nerd) once one is lit then it tells the next one to light.
Drugs come in two forms, firstly an agonistic drug, it enhances the message carried by neurotransmitters. So a neurotransmitter that is inhibitory (tells the next neuron NOT to fire) becomes more inhibitory (imagine a devout catholic after meeting the pope) or it makes an excitory neurotransmitter more excited (12 year old girl gets a seat on the train next to Jedward on her way to see Lady gaga)
An antagonistoc drug on the other hand interferes with message, think of it as a big tall defender in basketball who blocks the basket. It stops or lessens the action of the neurotransmitter.
Alcohol is an agonist that works on GABA, its action is to slow down or stop the work of other neurons ( the 'cop on' neurons), along with this it also antagonises Glutamate which you need to get your nervous system going, a lack of this lead to that mans difficulty in walking. Glutamate and GABA are your brains most plentiful neurotransmitters, I theorise that cats tend to eat only the heads of mice because of the deliciousness of brains (possible cat - zombie link there to be further explored). You know glutamate cos your chinese take away is full of it (MSG used a flavour enhancer in food). I once had a friend tell me she was allergic to MSG, this is impossible, as it would mean she was allergic to her own brain...then again....
Speed, or amphetamines work by getting dopamine flowing freer and for longer in the brain. Dopamine is the GO drug, normally your driving a one litre... add enough amphetamines and your driving a 3 litre monster. I think its useful to add here that Ritalin does the same thing, but you buy it from a lab and not in a bag. I could write all day about dopamine, it has so many roles, and is crucial in everything from Parkinson's to schizophrenia...let me know in the comments if you want MORE on dopamine
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