Despite the seemingly blatant root of addiction, that the affliction is the fault of drugs on the biochemical level, a more obscure, more habitual factor is at fault; the environment. As much as it may seem that we can place the blame upon the shoulders of those who are willfully partaking in such damaging habits, in reality it is more the fault of the environment the abuser finds themselves thrust in. As one is raised in a tumultuous environment, in which they know not what is happening nor why it is happening, drugs can seem to be a welcome escape. Be it anywhere from rats in an electrified cage overdosing on morphine, to prisoners confined to solitary confinement, drugs are sought after to alleviate the horrid circumstances. A Psychologist by …show more content…
The rats were living in a constant state of anxiety and fear (Addiction: The View from Rat Park." The Globalization of Addiction).
Dr. Bruce Alexander concluded that the same thing happened with humans in prison, when people were forced into solitary confinement, they would accept any form of escape they could get their hands on. (Addiction: The View from Rat Park." The Globalization of Addiction)
Dr Bruce Alexander conducted an experiment with several colleagues at Simon Fraser University they constructed a rat housing complex and dubbed it “Rat Park”; it was essentially everything a rat could want: plenty of toys, copious amounts of food, and many mates and playmates (Addiction: The View from Rat Park." The Globalization of Addiction).
The rats not only enjoyed the park but almost entirely ignored the drugs (Addiction: The View from Rat Park." The Globalization of Addiction).
Many believed that rats and humans are too different for there to be any real correlation and that without any human tests the old skinner box method still holds