This is my brain without my morning coffee: %^&a* (&^% #*& c| *&kbp ^%a g&$l.

This is my brain after I've had my coffee.

So, you see, it's a good thing I have access to my supply of caffeine. You'd have an even more incoherent columnist on your hands if my addiction weren't supported.

Now, I gave up cigars a while back, but I've had no cravings like some do for nicotine. I just quit the stogies "cold turkey", as they say.

And I drink an occasional beer, but I don't feel like I need alcohol to get through a day.

Not everyone is like me. Some people on this planet are genuine addicts to illegal substances. Or even legal ones that get them into trouble.

Some take a drink of booze and that's that. To them, alcohol becomes what cocaine or heroin apparently is to the hardened junkie. They end up doing anything to get their drug of choice, alcohol.

A few years back, I interviewed an American college English professor who started drinking whiskey to control his psychological demons. He was soon hiding bottles of the stuff at home and in his office. He had to drink to find the confidence to stand in front of his class to lecture.

This was a man who was once confident enough to earn a PhD and for whom words were a joy. He found himself willing to lie, cheat and steal - to his own wife and children - just to drink. He later found himself in a jail cell reeking of his own vomit. He didn't even remember getting arrested.

Something was haywire in his brain.

Which brings us to our topic: Brain surgery. And what China is doing, or not doing.

Chinese health officials have recently said that controversial brain surgery trials apparently under way here for some time - to try to eliminate drug addiction in individuals - were suspended in November of last year. But brain surgery for drug addition is considered a key research field and the ministry is still thinking about applying for national funds for additional scientific studies from the Ministry of Science and Technology, said Qi Guoming, chief of the Science and Education Department under the Health Ministry.

Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun said the surgery is a "special" medical practice. Hospitals and doctors involved in performing it must be standardized and of the highest quality.

In March, the ministry held a special meeting in Shaanxi Province where officials all agreed that such brain surgery is still in the clinical study phase and should not be used as a practical tool. Yet they agreed for studies to be done in those hospitals that have a relatively good capability, while the ministry sets up a supervisory team to formulate standards.

The experts and officials also agreed to work out strict plans and regulations, to clarify ethical principles, and a stricter criterion for patient selection and for observing side effects.

I don't know about you, but this sounds to me like somebody, somewhere is planning to start cutting open brains again. When surgeons start cutting open things, parts get changed and changed permanently.

Cooler heads, as they say, should prevail before this programme is restarted. Maybe before China begins resorting to the scalpel it ought to address the woeful shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists that is now evident throughout the nation.

Remember the US professor who was drunk in his jail cell? That incident was, as they say, hitting rock bottom. Today he's a healthy man. He conquered his addiction through psychological therapy. Still recognized in his field, he keeps free from his addiction by attending regular Alcoholics' Anonymous meetings.

While such brain surgeries as those conducted in China may be required as the very last option for some hard-pressed addicts, 500 such patients have already had the operations in China, according to medical sources.

That group can be studied for some time to find out if they are really benefiting or to see if they will suffer delayed side effects no one has yet imagined.

Don't cut open any more heads for now.