UNDERSTANDING ADDICTIONS: FOOD, DRUGS & ALCOHOL

Course overview

This INR webinar Understanding Addictions: Food, Drugs, and Alcohol will focus on the history, nature and extent, symptoms, and treatments for addictions to the tastes of food, nicotine, alcohol, marijuana Cannabis, and the illicit drugs including opioids and opiates, cocaine, methamphetamine and other stimulants, and hallucinogens. In addition to addictive substances, the course will also discuss behavioral addictions like gambling disorder. Addiction is a worldwide epidemic due to the technological production of powerful substances that overwhelm the brains reward system. The course will show that the major rewarding effects of all addictive drugs result from the activation of one system in the brain present in all people: the mesocorticolimbic reward system. The presentation will demonstrate that addiction has five major components: 1 taking the substance is followed by a rewarding experience, 2 as drug use continues, tolerance develops where the reward decreases and there may be a withdrawal syndrome when drug use is suspended, 3 powerful cravings to take the drug develop, 4 there is a progressive loss of control over resisting the cravings, and 5 the life of the addicted individual revolves around taking the substance and the use continues despite significantly negative consequences. The pharmacological reasons why some substances are more addictive than others will be presented including drug pharmacokinetics, affinity, intrinsic activity, and efficacy agonists and antagonists. The three major legal addictions food, alcohol, and nicotine will be covered in detail as they represent the greatest risk to disability and death. The history and ongoing conundrum of Cannabis or marijuana will be explained including discussions of medical marijuana and cannabidiol CBD. Dr. Howard will review the opioid overdose crisis and cover the effects of narcotic analgesics from morphine to heroin to fentanyl as well as developing medical treatments. Stimulant drugs like cocaine and bath salts will be described with an emphasis on the effects of addiction to methamphetamines. The webinar will address whether caffeine and hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and mescaline are addictive. There will also be a discussion of behavioral addictions like gambling disorder and internet sex addiction. The presenter will cover aspects of prevention and evidence based treatments for all classes of addictive drugs.