Addiction and the Brain: Are We Hard Wired to Abuse Drugs

描述(申请人提供)：药物滥用是世界上最具挑战性的公共卫生问题之一，在许多层面上造成了巨大的社会损失-从它的成本(仅在美国每年就超过4840亿美元的医疗支出、收入损失以及与犯罪和事故相关的成本)到它以癌症、心脏病、艾滋病、压力、虐待儿童和其他暴力的形式造成的人类痛苦。这一巨大的负担影响到所有社会--药物滥用者、他们的家人、教育系统、工业、社会福利和刑事司法系统，以及广大公众。幸运的是，最近的科学进步彻底改变了我们对成瘾这一慢性病的理解，对改进预防和治疗具有重大意义。一些最大的进步来自于由化学家、物理学家和医生组成的跨学科团队，他们使用复杂的脑成像技术来揭示药物增强、成瘾和有毒特性的潜在机制。为了展示最近在药物成瘾领域的脑成像进展，我们提议举办一个题为“成瘾和大脑：我们难以滥用药物吗？”的研讨会。作为美国科学促进会(AAAS)2007年年会官方计划的一部分，该会议将于2007年2月15日至19日在加利福尼亚州旧金山举行。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Drug abuse is one of the world's most challenging public health problems, taking a tremendous societal toll at many levels - from its cost (more than $484 billion per year in the U.S. alone for health care expenditures, lost earnings, and costs associated with crime and accidents) to the human suffering it causes in the form of cancer, heart disease, AIDS, stress, child abuse and other violence. This enormous burden affects all of society - substance abusers, their families, the educational system, industry, social welfare and criminal justice systems, and the public at large. Fortunately, recent scientific advances have revolutionized our understanding of addiction as a chronic disease, with dramatic implications for improving prevention and treatment. Some of the greatest advances have come from cross-disciplinary teams of chemists, physicists, and medical doctors using sophisticated brain-imaging technologies to reveal the mechanisms underlying the reinforcing, addictive, and toxic properties of drugs. To present recent brain-imaging advances in the field of drug addiction, we propose to hold a symposium titled "Addiction and the Brain: Are We Hard Wired to Abuse Drugs?" as part of the official program of the 2007 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), to be held in San Francisco, CA, February 15-19, 2007.