Addiction Research

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), addiction is 'a chronic disease of the central nervous system that is characterized by a loss of control over impulsive behavior that leads to compulsive drug seeking and taking, and to relapses even after months of abstinence'. Addiction is a complex neuroadaptive process, where drugs of abuse alter cellular and molecular aspects of neural function. The brain circuits mediating the various behavioral effects of these drugs are rendered more, or less, responsive to those effects.