Nature couldn’t have taken millions of years to develop the incredibly intricate system of brain circuits, neurotransmitters, and receptors that become involved in addiction just so people could get high to escape their troubles or have a wild time on a Saturday night. These circuits and systems, writes a leading neuroscientist and addiction researcher, Dr. Jaak Panksepp, must “serve some critical purpose other than promoting the vigorous intake of highly purified chemical compounds recently developed by humans.”
