CROOKSTON – Addiction can be a difficult topic for many people to understand, even for scientists.
But thanks to investment from the state of Minnesota, a group of researchers hopes to better understand what causes the brain to become addicted to a substance and also how science can use new ways to treat addiction.
Mark Thomas is the scientific director of the Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, a new research program funded by the Minnesota Legislature to power cross-disciplinary collaborations and discover new treatment options. Thomas’ research examines how addictive drugs affect the brain and how these changes can lead to compulsive drug use. His lab is focusing on ways to disrupt addiction relapse.
“If we understood where the demand for drugs was coming from, we might be able to be more effective in disrupting addiction at its root cause,” Thomas said.
Thomas has spent time traveling around Minnesota and will be heading to New York to speak about the topic. Most recently, he was in Crookston, speaking to an audience about the science of addiction. He also spent time talking to law enforcement and healthcare providers about the topic.
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While research about drug addiction has been going on worldwide for decades, Thomas and his group are trying to apply new kinds of neuroscience technology to study the brain and learn about the aspects of brain activity that are causing the problem, he said.
Thomas said it is important to share the group’s work for multiple reasons.
“There's still a lot of stigma around substance use disorders,” he said. “I think there's still pervasive thought that (asks) 'why can't somebody just stopped doing this?' They say they want to stop it. We know they should stop it, it might even kill them. It's disrupting their family and their relationships like this is this is some kind of a moral failing. We think of it in a much different way.”
Thomas said decision-making parts of the brain are targeted by drugs and drug abuse, which can produce a scientifically greater challenge for some people.
He said it’s also important for team members to get out of the lab and into the world to learn from those who are personally affected by substance use disorder. It’s also important, he said, to learn from people who work with those people. That's why it’s important to meet with law enforcement and health care professionals on his trips.
