Perspectives

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 5, 963-970 (December 2004) | doi:10.1038/nrn1539

Science and societyDrug addiction: the neurobiology of behaviour gone awry

Nora D. Volkow1 & Ting-Kai Li2  About the authors

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Drug addiction manifests as a compulsive drive to take a drug despite serious adverse consequences. This aberrant behaviour has traditionally been viewed as bad 'choices' that are made voluntarily by the addict. However, recent studies have shown that repeated drug use leads to long-lasting changes in the brain that undermine voluntary control. This, combined with new knowledge of how environmental, genetic and developmental factors contribute to addiction, should bring about changes in our approach to the prevention and treatment of addiction.

Author affiliations

  1. Nora Volkow is at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
    Email: nvolkow@nida.nih.gov
  2. Ting-Kai Li is at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

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