A study of people who effortlessly quit smoking after a stroke or other brain injury—and of those who suffered an injury but then kept smoking—has pinpointed a brain network involved in addiction, researchers reported June 13 in Nature Medicine. Experts say the findings may help identify targets for therapies that could treat addictions.
“I think this could be one of the most influential publications not only of the year, but of the decade,” A. Thomas McLellan, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania who also served as deputy director of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, tells The New York Times. “It puts to rest so many of the stereotypes that still pervade the field of addiction: that addiction is bad parenting, addiction is weak personality, addiction is a lack of morality.” McLellan was not involved in the current research.
In the study, researchers compared ...
