評論
打印
Nora Volkow: You could make a case that people become addicted to the lifestyle, because their brain has started to respond to the lifestyle and that is their environment, their friends, their situations.
沃爾·科夫諾拉：你可以做出解釋，人們之所以沉迷于某種生活方式，是因為他們的大腦已經開始回應這種生活方式，那就是是他們的環境、他們的朋友、他們的處境。
Narrator: Her team sets up an experiment to test the theory.
旁白：她的研究小組建立了一個實驗來檢驗這個理論。
Volunteers are placed in a PET scanner, and shown images of people preparing and snorting lines of cocaine.
志愿者被放置入PET掃描儀，顯示準備和吸食可卡因的人的圖像。
Incredibly, the images alone significantly increase the dopamine levels in the brains of users.
令人難以置信的是，圖像顯示只有吸毒者大腦內的多巴胺水平顯著升高。
Nora Volkow: When we expose them with stimuli that have been linked with drugs, what we observe is that a significant increase in dopamine signaling in those areas of the brain that drives the motivation of your behavior.
諾拉·沃爾科夫：當我們暴露于因毒品導致的刺激時，我們所觀察到的是在那些大腦區域中傳導信號的多巴胺水平顯著升高而那些區域負責驅動你的行為。
Narrator: Dr. Volkow's research is revolutionary, it shows cocaine is so addictive that simply showing images of its use is enough to increase their dopamine levels and lead them into relapse.
旁白：沃爾科夫博士的研究是革命性的，它說明可卡因的成癮性如此之大，簡單的大腦掃描圖像結果就顯示吸食它足以升高他們的多巴胺水平，并導致復吸。
Nora Volkow: People can go to a detoxification program, they do very well, they go out into the neighborhoods where they are used to taking the drug and they relapse.
諾拉·沃爾科夫：人們可以去參加戒毒計劃，他們表現的很好，他們出來后又回到鄰里之間，在那里他們習慣了吸毒，然后他們復吸了。
And they relapse exactly because of these effects on the memory systems.
他們復吸只是因為這些作用還存在于記憶系統。
So they say, I'm not going to take the drug, I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I'm not going to and before they even realize it, the drug is already in their mouths, or they're smoking it.
所以他們說，我不打算吸食毒品了，我不會了，我不會了，我不會了，我不會了，甚至在他們意識到前，毒品已經入口了，或者他們正在抽。
Narrator: Law enforcement treats cocaine users as criminals rather than people suffering from a disease.
旁白：執法系統將可卡因吸食者視作罪犯，而不是遭受疾病折磨的人。
Over the past ten years, the government has repeatedly slashed funding for drug rehabilitation programs and increased funding for prisons.
在過去的十年里，政府屢次削減戒毒計劃經費，并增加監獄經費。
The result: a million Americans are imprisoned on drug related charges, costing the American taxpayer $12.5 billion a year.
結果：一百萬美國人因毒品類指控而入獄，每年要花費美國納稅人125億美元。
Prof Volkow believes the government's approach of criminalizing and imprisoning drug users without proper treatment is misguided.
沃爾科夫教授認為政府對吸毒者不進行適當的治療就定罪和監禁的手段是錯誤的。
Nora Volkow: When you just take a person that's addicted and push them in jail and you don't give them treatment, you can guarantee that that person will relapse within a few weeks of actually leaving, the jail, no matter how long they've been there.
諾拉·沃爾科夫：如果你只是抓住一個吸毒者，把他投進監獄，而不對其進行治療，你可以確定那個人在離開監獄后幾周內復吸，無論他們已在監獄呆了多久。
With no drug exposure, if you don't treat they will immediately relapse for drug taking.
即便沒有毒品接觸，如果你不對其進行治療，他們會立刻復吸毒品。
But very importantly, they'll end up re-incarcerated pretty soon.
但非常重要的是，不久，他們最終會重新入獄。
