Recent surveys show that 54 percent of the U.S. population over 12 years of age drinks with some frequency. The need for a certain substance can be caused by a physical addiction, a psychological addiction or a combination of the two. Many drugs are addictive through their ability to tap into the brain's pleasure center and cause the release of dopamine, the body's ultimate feel-good reward. The faster a drug reaches the pleasure center, the more addictive it is. Cigarettes, crack cocaine, and inhaled aerosol spray are highly addictive because their chemicals reach the pleasure center at the speed of inhaled oxygen.
Injected drugs make a swift trip through the bloodstream to the brain.
Even though it is swallowed, alcohol quickly passes into the bloodstream, circulating all over the body and through the brain. Efforts in helping alcoholics may show the way. For a long time, total abstinence was the only accepted cure for alcoholism. Only the Alcoholics Anonymous system seemed to work, and AA continues to have an impressive 50 percent success rate. Now, people are trying other ways to quit, and many record success.