"Pleasure Centres"

I am looking right now at an article in the news column regarding a surgery for addiction, wherein the brain's reward circuits are destroyed.

Readers ought to know that this practice is

1) old news. This has been trialed for a couple of decades. It has not gained prominence for a good reason.

2) abhorrent. The destruction of the reward circuits is a fate worse than death. Luckily, the brain is very very powerful, and will re-wire a new reward circuit, but it will take a very long time, and it is possible that original functionality will never fully return.

3) ineffective. Contrary to popular belief, drug dependence is NOT modulated by the reward circuits. At least not entirely. Opiate and cocaine addictions, for example, are often driven by the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, and have little actual effect on the reward circuits. This surgery has ALREADY been shown to be ineffective long-term, since in reality, there is no standalone "pleasure centre".

There are areas which, if electrically activated via a probe, will induce intense bliss and euphoria. However they are more of a switchboard than a capacitor. Do note that this procedure is known as "wireheading" and unlike surgical destruction of brain matter, it DOES show promise for the treatment of mood disorders and movement disorders.

In my opinion, the perpetrators of this "treatment for addiction" ought to receive a very special punishment. If y'all get my drift. Let's see how THEY feel with life as nothing more than a grey, humourless wall of crushing grey information. Wouldn't that be justice... lol. They are so ready to ruin the lives of "addicts" that they can't see the act of utter cruelty they are committing.

"Reward centre destruction" is a clear violation of human rights and is abuse of psychology of the highest levels; are humans REALLY so vulnerable to temptation that these types of measures ought to be enacted?

Enough is enough, if they are willing to take away the joy of life itself so we won't want to smoke flowers, collect flower latex, insufflate powders, or anything for that matter, then it is far past due to look into the REAL motivations of those involved. It is barbaric and downright evil, FAR worse than the long discredited lobotomy procedure.