Why do drugs so drastically affect one person versus another? One person can take a sip of alcohol once and be an alcoholic for life. One person can take OTC narcotics and have almost no effect, while another person takes the same drug and knocked out for hours. Why are there such vast differences when for the most part, our biology is so similar?
In: Chemistry
In terms of addiction, the answer likely has less to do with biological differences and more to do with social factors.
I wrote my thesis on the mechanisms of cocaine dependency in rodents. One of the most interesting studies I read involved placing rats in “standard” and “enhanced” living conditions and givng them access to cocaine. The standard condition was a single rat housed in a cage with nothing except a water bottle, a tray of food, and a lever which would give them a small dose of cocaine. Rats are normally social animals, so the isolation is considered a significant stressor. The enhanced condition was a large cage with multiple rats, toys which were swapped out regularly, and simple puzzles which they had to complete to get food. The rats in the enhanced condition had the same access to cocaine, but took far less overall and had lower scores on “addiction-like behavior” tests.
While it wouldn’t be correct to say humans have the exact same behavioral patterns, there are definitely similarities. A person who has a strong social network, low stress, and an engaging lifestyle is likely not going to be as susceptible to addiction as someone under high stress who has little support. Essentially, if you’re bored, stressed, and lonely, you’re a lot more likely to take drugs.
Now genetic factors do absolutely play a role. In my experiments, all my rats were housed in identical conditions and were bred to have as little genetic diversity as possible (while maintaining a healthy population). I still had individuals who took far more drug than the average and some that hardly took any at all. There has likely been research into why this is, but I have not read it.
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