- Opioids disrupt the normal functioning of your brain, making it harder for people to quit and more vulnerable to relapse.
- Opioid addicts are known to lose gray matter in the amygdala, which drives drug craving and dependence.
- Scientists are searching for promising targets in developing non-opioid treatments for addiction.
- While treating opioid addiction with more opioids isn't ideal, addicts who don't receive those medicines and are treated with only psychological support are twice as likely to die of a relapse overdose.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this year, US Senator Lamar Alexander asked an important question: Why is most of the treatment for opioid addiction more opioids?
In response, Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Walter Koroshetz, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, did their best to assure the senator — and thus the nation — that scientists are hard at work developing treatments for addicts that are not just more of the same.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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SEE ALSO: 6 charts reveal how severe the opioid epidemic has become
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