Session 4:  Day Three  Today we discussed the "pleasure circuit" in the brain and how chemicals are released into our body that makes us feel "happy" when we do something we enjoy - like riding our favorite ride at the Fair!  God designed our brain to naturally do this!  We then talked about how drugs use this pleasure circuit to act in the brain.  The dangerous part is that these chemicals can change how our brain naturally functions and can even cause our body to become addicted - feeling a need for this chemical.

An important point we tried to understand today was:  no one knows exactly what their personal chemical makeup is and therefore can not know exactly what drugs (chemicals) could cause changes in the brain that would lead to addiction.  Another important issue:  scientific studies have shown that persons with parents or grandparents that are alcoholic have a greater risk of becoming alcoholic themselves.  Just for fun - ask your son about the "switch" in his brain and if he knows what and when it might be "flipped"!

We spent much of the time talking about the drug marijuana.  Did you know that it doesn't fit very neatly into one of the major categories of drugs like - stimulants and depressants?  It acts differently on different people and may act differently each time it is used. The boys learned today that serious short-term memory loss can occur from marijuana use - so it's no good for studying for those tests!!