I learned that brain scan technology now allows observation of this phenomenon in the human brain. When drugs are administered, it is the midbrain — the part of the brain responsible for survival (and that does not weigh future consequences) — that will light up. That is where drugs take effect. Activity in the frontal cortex, on the other hand — the thinking, feeling, loving, moral, law-abiding part of the brain — will show diminished activity, a result of its inability to inhibit one’s drive to use drugs. This explains how addicts can sometimes do the unthinkable — the midbrain is in control
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