How to Get Monkey Off Your Brain

Society has been fighting the plague of addictions without knowing how drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol hot-wire the brain's pleasure response. Now researchers may be closing in on a magic bullet.

By Jim BartimoPhotographs by Ashkan Sahihi Posted 03.22.2002 at 5:50 pm 0 Comments

American Addicts

From cigs to booze to drugs, how many?

Tobacco, 65.5 million

Caffeine, 57.3 million (est.)

Alcohol, 15.4 million

Cocaine, 3.3 million

Heroin, 980,000

Speed, 356,000

SOURCES: 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (tobacco); Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (caffeine); National Institutes of Health (alcohol); Office of National Drug Control Policy (cocaine, heroin, and speed).

Estimated U.S. Deaths, Direct and Indirect

It's hard to measure the human toll of addiction, but annual fatalities are a potent indicator.

Tobacco, 430,000
Alcohol, 110,000
Cocaine, 4,864
Heroin, 4,820
Tranquilizers, 2,038
Antidepressants, 1,745

SOURCES: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (tobacco); National Institutes of Health (alcohol); U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (cocaine, heroin, tranquilizers, and antidepressants). Drugs in the HHS survey were cited as contributing factors, not necessarily direct causes of death.

The Raw Costs of Addiction

The annual financial burden includes the cost of health care, law enforcement, treatment, and lost productivity.

Alcohol, $184 billion
Illegal drugs, $143 billion
Tobacco, $138 billion

SOURCES: National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (alcohol); Office of National Drug Control Policy (illegal drugs); National Institute on Drug Abuse (tobacco).