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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. David Eckman 
 
 
Question: 
 
What’s the problem with heroin and methamphetamines? 
 
Answer: 
 
There’s a peculiar problem with heroin and methamphetamines—and 
it’s this: if you take the chemistry of meth, if you take the chemistry of 
heroin, when the chemistry is all done, when the formula is all worked 
out, it ends up that these chemicals produce the chemicals that come 
out of healthy relationships, that come out of positive achievements in 
life. 
 
Serotonin is one of the chemicals, dopamine is another one of the 
chemicals, that comes out of healthy relationships and achievement in 
life. The difficulty, though, is that with these chemicals, heroin and 
meth, they flood the system with what are called these “reward 
chemicals.”  
 
Nature has so designed us that we’ll get a natural chemical high from 
healthy relationships and positive achievements.  
 
We’re not meant to get those things from meth or heroin. However, 
what those chemicals do is they do an end-run in relationships.  
 
It is in relationships that we find health—and that’s why it’s always 
critical, when you’re struggling with any type of addiction or 
compulsion, to get yourself into relationships, because that’s where 
the healthy chemicals of life, in a balanced way, come from.  
 
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