Up until this point, notes lead researcher Steven Laviolette, most doctors believed that addiction would cause a permanent change in the brain and that such a switch from one state to another would be impossible. 

"Our findings suggest that instead of a permanent alteration in the brain, there's actually a switch that goes on between two separate systems (one that mediates the brain's response to drugs while not yet addicted and the other that mediates response once addicted)," says Laviolette.

"They also suggest we may be able to manipulate that switch pharmacologically to take drug addicts back to a non-addicted state in a relatively short period of time so they do not crave the drug."

Tests on lab rats showed that, with the use of certain drugs, scientists/researchers were able to switch the brains of the animals back to a non-addicted state in just a matter of hours, rather than the weeks or even months that it normally takes after a period of withdrawal from drugs. 

This finding offers much hope in the burgeoning war to fight drug and alcohol addiction, offering much simpler and cost-effective solutions to these problems.  Usual treatment for serious drug abusers involves costly in- or out-patient rehabilitative services or self-help 12-step programs, like Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous.