Don't use drugs. The campaign features radio and television announcements with blunt messages that warn young people about the damage drug abuse can do to the brain, both in the short and the long run. Not only do drugs have serious effects on the brain while an individual is under the influence, but these effects may do permanent damage to the brain. NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner and Dr. Drew Pinsky with the teenage actors who appear in NIDA's new public service announcements.
Drugs can so rapidly and dramatically change the brain that the brain is basically hijacked.
For example, recent research shows that even occasional use of a drug such as cocaine can desensitize the brain so that a user needs ever-increasing amounts to achieve the same effects he or she experienced when first using the drug. As time passes and drug use continues, a person goes from voluntary to compulsive drug use. This change occurs because, over time, use of addictive drugs changes the brain-at times in dramatic ways, at other times in more subtle ways, but always in destructive ways that can result in compulsive and even uncontrollable drug use. That is the essence of addiction. Dr. Leshner said he hoped that this campaign would provide young people and their parents with understanding that goes beyond the simple message not to use drugs.