Curious about how drugs actually work in your brain, and the effect they might have on you?  This link to the University of Utah’s Genetic Science Learning Center Mouse Party is an extremely fun and surprisingly in-depth distraction/learning experience.

Just like you and me, mice should stick to peanuts, not drugs.

Click the link and you will see a few adorable and very well-rendered animated mice in a cage.  They are all exhibiting symptoms of the drug they are abusing.  Select any one of the mice and put it in a virtual chair, at which point it will be transported to a machine where its brains will be analyzed.   Sounds creepy, but don’t worry, the mouse will be allright!

A narrator explains how the drug affects the brain step by step, and helpfully, phenhome text is also provided.  There is a lot to learn!  For example, did you know that cocaine is active not just in the reward pathway section of your brain, but also the part that controls voluntary movements?  That’s why someone under the influence of cocaine may be extremely fidgety.  And did you know our bodies have natural opiates and cannabinoids that act in our brains?

The drugs you can learn about are heroin, ecstasy, marijuana, alcohol, LSD, and cocaine.  It’s without a doubt one of the most clever ways I’ve found to teach people about drugs and how they work.  We highly recommend you check it out!  All the drugs covered in the interactive animation (with the exception of LSD)  you can home drug test for by purchasing a test from us.