5 Must See Ted Talks on Addiction

Everything You Think You Know About Addiction is Wrong – Johann Hari

Johann Hari is a journalist who has traveled over 30,000 miles exploring drugs and addiction. He presents to the audience early on in his speech that many of us have actually been given pure heroin if we’ve undergone a serious operation. Do we all come out as junkies? No. This confronts the idea that people will get addicted to heroin just from taking a lot of it.

Why don’t many people get addicted to drugs? According to Hari, and research, he has studied, it’s because of our human bonds. We want to stay well for the connections in our lives, for the human bond.

He discusses how the war on drugs across the globe has criminalized addicts. People are made to feel alone, ashamed, unwanted, dirty, criminal. Then he discusses Portugal, who decriminalized drugs in 2000 and has seen enormous success in helping people get back to working and being part of their communities.

People need to be loved, to feel cared for, to know they’re not alone. This is the key to helping addicts – not sending them away or arresting them. Hari firmly believes we need to change how we act and feel towards addicts, across the board. This will help change the story.

The Critical Role Librarians Play in the Opioid Crisis – Chera Kowalski

Chera Kowalski is a librarian at the McPherson Library in Philadelphia, located in a low-income area with very little opportunity historically. She chose to work here – she knows the area and its endemic problems. She knew it was center to the city’s drug trade and drug use. She didn’t become a librarian to save lives.

However, she points out that public libraries are places that are all about community support. People come into the library all day long, seeking shelter, resources, a place of repose, or to do their homework.

McPherson Library is in a park, and the staff had to face an even bigger problem as the opioid epidemic grew. People came to buy drugs in the park and use them around the library.

 Not only is Chera used to seeing people in various stages of opioid intoxication, but all the kids and teens who visit the library are too. The public toilet in the library even got blocked by discarded needles.

There have been overdoses inside and outside the library. All of this is reminiscent of Chera’s childhood. Her parents were heroin addicts. She constantly feared they would die. She has learned to use NARCAN and has saved lives with it. She knows the kids that see this think it is normal, but it shouldn’t be.

Her point is that the opioid epidemic isn’t just about users and their families – it affects the entire community that surrounds it. The reach of the epidemic impacts the entire community.

Addiction is a Disease. We Should Treat it Like One – Michael Botticelli

Director of Drug Policy for Barack Obama, Michael Botticelli was honest about his recovery, but there were still people who thought that it would affect his chances of getting that job, despite the fact he had been in recovery for 20 years. Michael is an alcoholic.

He’s also gay. He has seen how people fought to be heard, especially regarding the AIDS and HIV epidemic. He remembers when people blamed those with AIDS for being sick and wanted to separate them from others. He has seen how that has changed. The disease of AIDS may be eradicated in our lifetime.

Now he sees the disease of addiction. People are rude, derisive, speak with scorn about those with addiction. There’s a stigma like there once was with LGBT. Addicts are people too, they have faces and families, people that love them.

He discusses how someone with cancer will be treated; someone who has a heart attack will be rushed to the hospital. They have a disease, so do alcoholics and drug addicts. Decades of research has proven that addiction is a chronic medical condition.

The Affordable Care Act has changed things, but people need to change their views about addiction. He speaks about his own addiction because people are more than a disease. They need help, kindness, and compassion so that they can get help earlier and when they need it.