This is your snail, this is your snail on drugs....any questions?

Seems that according to Science Daily.com, a woman researcher by the name of Barbara Sorg, from Washington State University, has decided to get some snails (specifically: " the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis") addicted to methamphetamine for the purposes of studying what meth does to the memory.

The article goes on to explain that while addicts may be able to stop using a drug for a period of time, the brain still stores a memory for the use of the drug. Further, according to the studies performed by Sorg and a colleague, methamphetamine makes the memories formed "under the influence" harder to forget. So why get a snail high, you ask? It seems that snails have a memory for whether or not they should raise their pneumostomes (oxygen-suckers) above the water, according to the quality of the water -- and whether or not the water was laced with methamphetamine.

I believe the researchers are trying to draw a parallel between relapse on methamphetamine and the memory the brain has for common environments associated with the drug. In simplified terms this means that if you are exposed to an environment you used to use methamphetamine in, you are more likely to succumb to the memory of using and do it again. Interesting. And, unnerving.

And, ultimately, it's a questionable thing to do to a poor animal. So I just want to give a shout-out to all the lab animals who were sequestered for this experiment: Thanks for your sacrifice, little guys!