A 13-part series presented by Colin Blakemore
5: Prisoners of Pleasure
There are pleasure circuits in the brain designed to make people crave the things they need - drugs can take these over. Jim tried many drugs without getting hooked - but then came his first attempt at 'freebasing' cocaine. It was 400 times the high of an orgasm, he says. He became an addict. Liza was powerfully addicted to her chemically very different tranquillisers.
Researchers believe different drugs affect brain cells in similar ways, but why is it some people can take or leave drugs, while others become prisoners of their habit? Film editor KEITH RAVEN
Assistant producer IAN CALVERT Executive editor (WNET) RICHARD HUTTON
Series producer MARTIN FREETH
Co-produced with WNET, New York