Are Narcotics Addictive?
Narcotics are highly addictive. Besides their intended effects of attenuating pain, they also cause some abnormal chemical changes in the brain that activate the brain’s reward system.
The brain has a system for rewarding people for positive behaviors, such as when we get a good meal when we are hungry or achieve something else necessary for survival. To encourage such necessary behaviors, the brain releases “feel-good” chemicals (neurotransmitters) that make us feel good when we achieve them.
Narcotics release huge amounts of neurotransmitters — about ten times that released by sex — which is why people who use the drugs feel high. Addiction occurs because this reward system has its intended effect: it gets the individual to repeat the behavior that resulted in the reward, in this case, the drug use.
As individuals are driven to use the narcotics repeatedly, tolerance develops. This is where it takes increasing amounts of the narcotics to get the same effect. Tolerance is a major feature of addiction and the main cause of the escalating drug use that is typical of addiction.
Another feature of addiction is withdrawal. When drug use stops, uncomfortable symptoms and cravings result. As tolerance develops, people who are addicted to narcotics get very little high from their drug use. Their continued use is largely to avoid withdrawal symptoms.