Adam Gifford

According to Adam Gifford in the following viewpoint, attempts to regulate addictive substances actually exacerbate problems associated with addiction. Gifford claims that regulation cannot alter the biological fact that when addicts are cut off from customary doses of an abused substance, their bodies will force them to find a substitute drug; thus when governments prohibit a drug, addicts find other, sometimes more harmful drugs of unknown quality and concentration. Gifford concludes that regulating addictive substances harms public health rather than improves it. Adam Gifford is a professor of economics at California State University at Northridge.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In Gifford’s opinion, how is the activation of the reinforcement area of the brain by psychotropic substances different from activation by food?
2. How does the “set-point mechanism” operate in human...