I used to be addicted to computer games. In fact I once blew ten grand on a game called "Island of Kesmai," back in the Computer Stone Age before the coming of the Internet and . . . I'm getting away from the subject:
Addictive drugs release chemicals called endorphins, which stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain. Your body also naturally releases endorphins, which is what you get when your mom cooks apple pie, or you hug your girlfriend, or get a bonus from your boss for finishing the big project. However, drugs release huge amounts of endorphins in a short time, resulting a "high" which pretty well eclipses any natural source.
If we simply substitute endorphins for money, a cost-benefit analysis would show that a drug high is much greater benefit, proportional to cost, than normal activities, so in these terms, hard drugs are a rational choice. The choice only become irrational when one considers long-term costs:
The repeated, unnatural deluge of endorphins tends to numb the pleasure centers of the brain, so that mom's pie, the girlfirend's hug and the boss's bonus no longer seem important anymore. After prolonged addiction, about the only source of satisfaction left is more drugs . . . and being without drugs is quite painful and unpleasant . . . which explains why the lasting success rate for first-time treatment of a drug addict is around 20%: There is no alternative you can offer the guy which can possibly compete with drugs.
And, on a totally, unrelated subject, anyone know where I can play "Island of Kesmai" these days? Please?
