This is the final installment in our video in a series focusing on opioid addiction and recovery.

Opioid treatment and recovery is complex. Long-term and/or high doses of opioids can change the biochemistry of brain cells (neurons) - particularly those that are responsible for helping to regulate dopamine production. Recovery from opioid addiction therefore isn't a simple matter of stopping synthetic opioid-use. Someone with an opioid-use disorder has a biochemical need for synthetic opioids just to be able to function on a daily bases. Treatment and recovery typically require both an environmental component, and a biochemical component.

For more information on the biology of opioid addiction, visit www.evo-ed.org.

Support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education program under Award No. DUE2020221