Addiction is viewed by most as a social problem to be solved with social solutions, such as incarceration. But scientific evidence supports the opposite: addiction is a brain disease. “The World Health Organization has defined addiction as “A mental and sometimes physical state resulting from the interaction between a living organism and a drug, characterized by behavioral and other responses that always include a compulsion to take the drug. drug continuously or periodically to experience its psychic effects and sometimes to avoid the discomfort of its absences. Tolerance may or may not be present'” (4). Interestingly, however, this clinical condition has both behavioral and social components that must be treated, just as other disorders, such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's, are treated. Furthermore, researchers argue that drug addicts should be viewed as victims, suffering from an altered brain state, just as schizophrenics are viewed (1). Advances in neural and behavioral science have led to this new definition of addiction. Researchers have identified physical differences between the structure of an addict's brain and the brain of a "non-addict," implying that these habits are behaviors that alter the pathways built by neurons and synapses, as well as altering the availability of receptors recently identified, genes expression and even the reactivity of an addict to his environment. Biologists have also discovered elements common to all addictions, regardless of the substance being abused. This standardization represents a great advance in the treatment of the disease (1). At a biological level, addiction is argued to proliferate through activation of the mesolimbic reward system, a pathway that is influenced by all addictive substances and that fully mediates reinforcement, including reinforcement by artificial substances such as drugs (2) . This reinforcement does not always act in positive terms, given that it can ultimately lead the victim to experience withdrawal: the physical effects that are felt when a substance to which the circuit is repeatedly exposed is lacking; drug addicts respond so violently because recurring contact with the drug addict's substance of choice causes the nervous system to adapt to maintain a kind of homeostasis in the body that is constant when the drug is... middle of paper... . s to be treated, but if we cannot recognize as drugs those substances that are actually drugs of abuse, then we cannot begin to treat this disease that afflicts so many Americans. Prolonged abuse of any substance can cause widespread and long-lasting changes in brain function and structure. This fact should therefore encourage research to explore ways to treat this disease, addiction, because of how universally the effects of substance abuse are felt. Its implications are also felt in the field of public health, given that drug use is responsible for the transmission of many diseases (e.g. AIDS, hepatitis), and the recognition of this abuse as a brain disease "characterized by compulsive drug seeking of “drug” and use" will help reduce the social costs of the consequences and ineffective treatment of the disease (1). Works Cited(1) Alan I. Leshner "Addiction is a Brain Disease", Drug Abuse: Opposed Viewpoints.(2 ) Anatomy of Addiction, Ellen M. Unterwald(3) Cocaine Addiction, Frank H. Gawin(4) “Nicotine and Addiction”, Action on Smoking and Health http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets /html/fact09.html (5) “Tobacco Addiction,” Nora D. Volkow, MD.