How Have We Coevolved with Drugs?

Why Do I Like It? The Coevolution of Humans and Psychoactive Drugs

🧠💫Most drugs create Dopamine release that is similar to and stronger than a Dopamine release that follows other rewarding activities such as eating, avoiding pain, winning, and having sex. These activities are meant to be addictive because they help humans survive💪

😍⚡️A wide range of drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, target the Dopaminergic system. This system regulates emotion and controls positive reinforcement👍

💊👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Almost every human society in history has used drugs! Cocaine was used by Ecuadorians over 5,000 years ago and the people of the Western Andes almost 7,000 years ago. Our brains have co-evolved with drugs - we have receptors in our brains with high affinities for certain drugs because people have been taking weaker forms of these drugs for thousands and thousands of years👀

🌿Dating back over 40,000 years, Australian aborigines, Native North Americans, and South Americans used nicotine from their own indigenous sources. Due to the fact that humans have been using nicotine in some form for hundreds of centuries, we are almost all predisposed to having a strong affinity for (and high potential for addiction to) it🚬⚠️

🦍Addictive behavior has evolved with us. Archaeological records indicate that the use of psychotropic plants and drugs in ancient civilizations dates back over 200 million years. Furthermore, we have evolved to seek out positive emotions because they tell our brain we are doing something right in life. So because drugs create artificially positive emotions - our brains can’t tell the difference - we are vulnerable to addiction🤪💀