A new study at the University of California at San Francisco uses PET scan technology to prove what pretty much everyone has known forever: Drinking feels better to heavy drinkers than to casual drinkers.  Since the study was done at the I-kid-you-not Ernest Gallo Clinic, no mention was made of alcoholism, just “heavy drinking.”  In a clinic funded by a winery, the a-word is spoken in hushed tones, if at all. 

According to the report here, the researchers used positron emission tomography to observe the immediate effects of alcohol in the brains of 13 heavy drinkers and 12 control subjects who were not heavy drinkers. In all of the subjects, alcohol intake led to a release of opiate-like endorphins. And, in all of the subjects, the more endorphins released in the nucleus accumbens, the greater the feelings of pleasure reported by each drinker.

In addition, the more endorphins released in the orbitofrontal cortex, the greater the feelings of intoxication in the heavy drinkers, but not in the control subjects.

“This indicates that the brains of heavy or problem drinkers are changed in a way that makes them more likely to find alcohol pleasant, and may be a clue to how problem drinking develops in the first place,” said lead researcher Dr. Jennifer Mitchell. “That greater feeling of reward might cause them to drink too much.”

The alcoholic community responds with a resounding “Duh.”  But here’s the greater problem brewing in the labs of the Center for the Study of the Blindingly Obvious: The researchers are excited about these finding because they pinpoint specific endorphin receptors active in the heavy drinkers.  This mean they can now develop drugs to block those receptors, the way suboxone and other opiate blockers are supposed to reduce heroin dependence by making heroin not work so well.  “If it doesn’t feel good, why do it?” is the theory.

The problem with that theory is that it doesn’t go far enough.  The actual addict continues “…I’ll just do something else.”  The basic need, after all, is to feel okay.  If the alcohol doesn’t make me feel good any more, I’ll find something that does.  What fills basic needs?  Food (overeating, self-starvation), money (gambling, shopping, hoarding), love (sex, relationship, romance, fantasy.)

Now, I am pleased as punch — rum punch, if you’re asking, but not today — that the American Society of Addiction Medicine has officially declared that addiction is “a chronic brain disorder.”  It’s less judgmental than “lack of willpower,” “moral failing” or “demonic possession.”  But you can’t cure addiction by attacking the substance; any more than you can heal a wounded soldier by treating the bayonet that stabbed him.

That, too, was once considered good medicine

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