Question by sunkissed299: Can a former drug addict do anything to reproduce brain cells?
I work in a homeless shelter and someone just asked. I would say no. Thats why they tell you not to do drugs.lol

Best answer:

Answer by Lara Love
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal government research institute. Their mission is to lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction.

According to notes released by NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner in the September 2000 issue of Director’s Column:

“Remarkable research and technological advances in the past two decades have proved that brain disruption and damage play central roles in the consequences of drug abuse and addiction. Knowing the nature of a problem, of course, opens the way for systematic attempts to fix it. Thus, today, finding ways to restore normal brain function after it has been changed by drugs is a main goal of NIDA research.

[…]

Ultimately, researchers envision a two-stage process for helping restore drug abusers’ impaired abilities. Interventions will be used first to stop ongoing brain damage and repair damaged brain cells, and then to retrain the brain. The rationale for this approach is that repairing the brain first will restore lost mental resources and capacities that patients then can apply in further treatment.”

More information available here: http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol15N4/Pursues.html

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