colleagues. Here, researchers also used PET scans to measure to various brain areas of meth users and non-users. Subjects in the experimental and control groups met the same criteria as subjects in Volkow's study. The primary focus of this study was to demonstrate the effects of dopamine transporter reduction in causing psychiatric symptoms in meth users.
             PET scans in Volkow's group measured ten composite brain regions, in addition to global and relative metabolism. The findings demonstrated a significantly lower metabolism in the thalamus and striatum of the meth-using group. It is important to note that even users who had not consumed the drug for nearly a year showed equally low rates of metabolism in these areas (Volkow, et al., 2001, p. 385). The striatum receives messages directly from dopamine cells in the midbrain, and in turn the thalamus receives dopamine signals from the striatum. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that the lowered metabolisms in these regions for meth abusers are result of a disruption in dopamine-related pathways (Volkow, et al., 2001, p. 386). One result that the researchers did not expect to fi
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