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Introduction

Robert Garner

There is a well-founded science-base for understanding addiction as a
chronic, and for many, recurring disease characterized by compulsive
drug seeking and use. An abundance of research has consistently
shown that chronic drug use affects the brain in fundamental ways
often remaining long after the drug using behavior has stopped.
Research science has also increased our understanding about the very
nature of drug addiction, which has created new inroads for dramatic
improvement in treatment approaches.

Using brain-imaging technologies, science can demonstrate the
biological basis for addiction and has provided the basis for a
biopsychosocial perspective of chemical dependency. From this
knowledge we are now able to accept that for some addicted persons,
medications are critical to treat drug-induced brain deficits in order to
help sustain a symptoms-free lifestyle.

In much the same way that research provided for medications
development used for other chronic diseases, such as hypertension,
diabetes, and asthma, addiction medicine is following the same course.