**The Addictive Brain** | **Addiction 101**

Discover the neural mechanisms that underlie the behaviors of addiction.

This course includes watching a lecture followed by a group discussion moderated by the facilitator.

Begin your course by defining “addiction,” which is diagnosed based on characteristics such as abuse, dependence, and craving. Professor Polk then surveys the history of drug use, from ancient history through the development of synthetics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, he reviews government regulation and the substantial costs of drug abuse, both to the individual and to society.

**DISCUSSION QUESTIONS**

1. What are the major characteristics of addiction?

2. What are some of the major milestones in the history of U.S. drug policy?

3. Why do you think addiction is so much more of a problem today than it was 200 years ago?