'Your Brain on Drugs' Talk in Levittown Schools

Dr. Stephen L. Dewey, Center for Behavioral and Molecular Imaging investigator at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, shared his research with Levittown School District’s secondary-level students on the effect of drugs on the human brain’s function and structure.

“A drug changes your brain a lot longer than it makes you feel,” Dr. Dewey told the students.

During his presentation, Dr. Dewey explained his research with PET scan technology, a form of nuclear imaging, which provides doctors with a three-dimensional color image of the functional processes of the body. He explained that doctors determine the effects of drugs by studying the PET scan images of a patient, which light up with drug use and dim with brain damage and inactivity.

Dr. Dewey also explained that every drug of abuse, including caffeine and tobacco, works the same way by increasing dopamine, a hormone that makes people feel pleasure. Also important is environment, the number one case of relapse in drug abusers.

Submitted by Levittown Schools

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