When activity in the mesolimbic pathway is prevented—either physically by severing neurons or pharmacologically with drugs that block dopamine—organisms are unable to experience pleasure. So, if the pathway were somehow lesioned before a shot of alcohol or bump of cocaine, especially if these were among your initial experiences with those substances, you’d think the drugs were a complete waste of money (though you’d be sedated or behaviorally active, depending on which drug you had because those effects are produced elsewhere).
