From the opioid crisis in America to recreational use at a party, drugs and other substances have become as commonplace as food trends.

If you ask different researchers, they’ll give you different points of view regarding the potential for a substance to be addictive. It all depends on the harm it causes, its street value and, of course, the extent to which the drug activates the dopamine centres of the brain.

Then there are withdrawal symptoms, pleasure caused by the drug, and the ease with which someone can get hooked.

We’ll leave the ‘vegan’ and ‘ethically sourced’ angle for another day.

According to CNN, given the varied opinions of researchers, the best way to classify the addictive nature of a substance is by putting it to a panel.

In 2007, David Nutt and his colleagues did just that, and came up with a list of the five most addictive substances in the world. Here they are in descending order:

1. Heroin

This one is obvious. We’ve all heard that one hit gets you hooked.

Heroin is an opiate that causes the level of dopamine in the brain’s reward system to increase by up to 200% in experimental animals. In addition to being arguably the most addictive drug, heroin is dangerous, too, because the dose that can cause death is only five times greater than the dose required for a high.

Heroin can be smoked, snorted or injected and is also ranked second in the world in terms of damage to users and society.

2. Cocaine

A popular party drug, confidence booster and common occurrence in ad agency bathrooms, this is the drug that turns that pleasant friend of yours into a trash human on a night out.

Cocaine directly interferes with the brain’s use of dopamine to convey messages from one neuron to another. In essence, cocaine prevents neurons from turning the dopamine signal off, resulting in an abnormal activation of the brain’s reward pathways.

It’s estimated that between 14 million and 20 million people worldwide use cocaine both recreationally and at times on a day-to-day basis.

3. Nicotine

As I write this my box of smokes is staring at me from next to my computer. It’s a tough habit to kick.

Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient of tobacco. When somebody smokes a cigarette, nicotine is rapidly absorbed by the lungs and delivered to the brain. Nutt et al’s expert panels rated nicotine (tobacco) as the third most addictive substance.

It’s been estimated that the world is home to more than a billion smokers, and that tobacco will kill more than eight million people annually by 2030.

Sobering thought.

4. Barbiturates

Barbiturates, or ‘downers’ as they’re more commonly known, were initially used to treat depression and assist with sleep. They also go by blue bullets, gorillas, nembies, barbs and pink ladies.

They interfere with chemical signalling in the brain, the effect of which is to shut down various brain regions. At low doses, barbiturates cause euphoria, but at higher doses they can be lethal because they suppress breathing. Barbiturate dependence was common when the drugs were easily available by prescription, but this has declined dramatically as other drugs have replaced them.

Think Leo DiCaprio on ‘Ludes’ in The Wolf of Wall Street. Not a good look.

5. Alcohol

Yup – that everyday, commonplace glass of wine is only four degrees away from heroin.

Alcohol has many effects on the brain, but in laboratory experiments on animals it increased dopamine levels in the brain’s reward system by 40% to 360% — and the more the animals drank the more dopamine levels increased.

Some 22% of people who have taken a drink will develop dependence on alcohol at some point during their life.

In other words, don’t overdo it on the booze front. It’s January, that’s December behaviour.

Best practice is everything in moderation, except heroin. Don’t do heroin at all.

[source:cnn]