[Alcohol--bad for the brain?].

The consumption of alcohol and other addictive drugs is quite low in Norway compared with other European countries. Nevertheless, many will experience some of the various drug effects on the brain. Alcohol, the legal substance, is responsible for most drug-related neurological effects in Norway. Alcohol use results in a variety of different effects in different parts of the central nervous system. Headache and alcohol withdrawal symptoms are frequent complaints, and atrophy of the cerebellar vermis and Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome often result in chronic sequelae. Most other drugs cause less structural damage to the nervous system than alcohol does. Clinical findings, pathogenetic mechanisms and treatment of some drug-related neurological disorders are discussed.