Question: Do drugs kill brain cells?

Emma Cahill answered on 15 Nov 2013:

Hi ronan, great question! Actually drugs are not directly toxic to our brain cells. What they do is alter how they are working. The brain cell communicate to eachother with chemical (called neurotransmitters) and electrical (action potentials) messages. Drugs are basically chemicals that interrupt the job of the normal neurotransmitters. However in the long term they end up exhausting the ressources of some cells, and when they cant produced enough energy/chemicals to keep up with demand they start to be in trouble.. so in the long term drugs can damage cells indirectly.
Hope that makes sense