When a cocaine addict relapses, it isn’t a matter of personal failure — it’s the biological result of their brain’s rewiring, new research finds.

Michigan State University scientists found that cocaine changes how the hippocampus functions, contributing to the ongoing compulsion to seek out the drug. Their National Institutes of Health–supported research, published in Science Advances, not only explains why cocaine addiction is notoriously difficult to treat, but it also could help scientists develop new pharmaceutical therapies.

“Addiction is a disease in the same sense as cancer,” said senior author A.J. Robison, a professor of neuroscience and physiology. “We need to find better treatments and help people who are addicted in the same sense that we need to find cures for cancer.”

At least a million people nationwide struggle with cocaine addiction and, right now, there’s no FDA-approved medication to treat it. People who stop using don’t experience the same physical withdrawal symptoms that opiates cause, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to quit. The drug hijacks the brain, flooding the reward centers with dopamine. This positive reinforcement tricks the brain into feeling like it’s doing something good instead of destructive.