Professor Martin Paulus
Appearances
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
We are in the midst of a crisis when it comes to methamphetamine. It's more destructive than any other drug. Law enforcers are starting to see the emergence of super-powered versions of meth.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
With methamphetamine, you can see 20-year-olds having strokes. You can have 20-year-olds having heart attacks.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
The answer to that is certainly yes. Only a minority of people who are exposed to the drug... will actually become dependent or develop use disorder. So it's not, it's like inevitable. It's not like it wipes out your entire brain and you're kind of a slave to the drug the moment you take it. It's just not like that.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
The use disorder is more than just, you know, the kick of dopamine. Yes, that explains some element of it, no question. But it's not the only thing.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
Here's the kicker. The rapidity with which you develop methamphetamine uses is unbelievable.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
For those who do, it can be very terrible. You know, you're down the cliff. I mean, that's the point.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
Breaking Bad is my favorite show. Really? Oh, yeah. I love the show. We actually have a paper that has the subtitle, I'm the Danger. Okay.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
It essentially makes a drop of dopamine seem like it's an ocean of dopamine.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
And so the dopamine system turns up the knob a little bit and you say, oh, wow, you know, this is really, this is really something. Time passes, and then... The dopamine is sucked back up into the nerve cell, and it's basically gone, right? And so you get the little blip, and it's gone.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
That's right. That's right, yeah. And so literally you get this flood of dopamine that comes out of nowhere and everything seems like great. People who, even the first time they do that, they say it's like 100 times an orgasm.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
So you get the dopamine, but there's nobody listening on the other side or fewer receptors listening. So you don't get the same effect after a while. Right? It's no longer like this roof, this incredible hit. But now it's like a little poof.
Science Vs
Methamphetamine: The Most Misunderstood Drug?
The point being is there's enormous regenerative capacity in the brain. I mean, there are limitations, but there's a tremendous amount of regeneration that can happen.