We have invented drugs that hack these ancient systems. The euphoria provided by natural opioids is meant to be reserved for that brief period after a near-death experience. But humans can now indiscriminately trigger this state with nothing more than a pill. This creates a problem. Repeatedly flooding the brain with opioids creates a state of chronic stress when the drug wears off—adaptation is unavoidable. This then traps opioid users in a vicious cycle of relief, adaptation, chronic stress requiring more drugs to get back to baseline, which causes more adaptation and thereby more chronic
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