0:00:00.643,0:00:03.038 What causes, say, heroin addiction? 0:00:03.508,0:00:05.644 This is a really stupid question, right? 0:00:05.994,0:00:07.446 It’s obvious; we all know it; 0:00:07.446,0:00:09.695 heroin causes heroin addiction. 0:00:10.225,0:00:11.469 Here’s how it works: 0:00:11.469,0:00:15.296 if you use heroin for 20 days, by day 21, 0:00:15.296,0:00:17.904 your body would physically[br]crave the drug ferociously 0:00:17.904,0:00:19.989 because there are[br]chemical hooks in the drug. 0:00:20.449,0:00:21.876 That’s what addiction means. 0:00:22.416,0:00:24.219 But there’s a catch. 0:00:24.699,0:00:28.071 Almost everything we think[br]we know about addiction is wrong. 0:00:35.128,0:00:38.518 If you, for example, break your hip,[br]you’ll be taken to a hospital 0:00:38.518,0:00:42.023 and you’ll be given loads of diamorphine[br]for weeks or even months. 0:00:42.483,0:00:44.236 Diamorphine is heroin. 0:00:44.896,0:00:48.317 It’s, in fact, much stronger heroin than[br]any addict can get on the street 0:00:48.317,0:00:51.932 because it’s not contaminated by all[br]the stuff drug dealers dilute it with. 0:00:52.582,0:00:54.200 There are people near you being given 0:00:54.200,0:00:56.981 loads of deluxe heroin[br]in hospitals right now. 0:00:57.501,0:00:59.502 So at least some of them[br]should become addicts? 0:01:00.272,0:01:03.411 But this has been closely[br]studied; it doesn’t happen. 0:01:03.901,0:01:07.401 Your grandmother wasn’t turned into[br]a junkie by her hip replacement. 0:01:07.831,0:01:08.654 Why is that? 0:01:09.394,0:01:12.716 Our current theory of addiction comes in[br]part from a series of experiments 0:01:12.716,0:01:15.186 that were carried out earlier[br]in the 20th century. 0:01:15.576,0:01:16.773 The experiment is simple: 0:01:16.773,0:01:20.274 you take a rat and put it in a[br]cage with two water bottles. 0:01:20.814,0:01:24.819 One is just water, the other is water[br]laced with heroin or cocaine. 0:01:25.129,0:01:27.128 Almost every time you run this experiment, 0:01:27.128,0:01:29.509 the rat will become obsessed[br]with the drugged water 0:01:29.509,0:01:33.010 and keep coming back for[br]more and more, until it kills itself. 0:01:33.800,0:01:37.571 But in the 1970s, Bruce Alexander,[br]a professor of psychology, 0:01:37.571,0:01:39.952 noticed something odd[br]about this experiment: 0:01:39.952,0:01:42.357 the rat is put in the cage all alone. 0:01:42.957,0:01:44.925 It has nothing to do but take the drugs. 0:01:45.535,0:01:48.473 What would happen, he wondered,[br]if we tried this differently? 0:01:49.323,0:01:53.071 So he built Rat Park, which is[br]basically heaven for rats; 0:01:53.071,0:01:57.021 it’s a lush cage where the rats would have[br]colored balls, tunnels to scamper down, 0:01:57.021,0:02:00.136 plenty of friends to play with,[br]and they could have loads of sex— 0:02:00.136,0:02:02.369 everything a rat about town could want. 0:02:02.779,0:02:05.756 And they would have the drugged water[br]and the normal water bottles. 0:02:06.426,0:02:08.274 But here’s the fascinating thing: 0:02:08.274,0:02:11.780 in Rat Park, rats hardly[br]ever use the drugged water; 0:02:11.780,0:02:15.820 none of them ever use it compulsively;[br]none of them ever overdose. 0:02:16.550,0:02:18.695 But maybe this is a quirk of rats, right? 0:02:19.155,0:02:22.517 Well, helpfully, there was a human[br]experiment along the same lines: 0:02:22.517,0:02:23.801 the Vietnam War. 0:02:24.281,0:02:27.768 20% of American troops in Vietnam[br]were using a lot of heroin. 0:02:28.228,0:02:29.862 People back home were really panicked, 0:02:29.862,0:02:32.555 because they thought there would be[br]hundreds of thousands of junkies 0:02:32.555,0:02:35.149 on the streets of the United States[br]when the war was over. 0:02:35.629,0:02:39.234 But a study followed the soliders home[br]and found something striking: 0:02:39.234,0:02:42.603 they didn’t go to rehab; they didn’t[br]even go into withdrawal; 0:02:42.603,0:02:45.652 95% of them just stopped[br]after they got home. 0:02:45.952,0:02:49.564 If you believe the old theory of[br]addiction, that makes no sense. 0:02:49.564,0:02:53.095 But if you believe Prof. Alexander’s[br]theory, it makes perfect sense, 0:02:53.095,0:02:56.303 because if you’re put into a horrific[br]jungle in a foreign country 0:02:56.303,0:03:00.033 where you don’t want to be, and you could[br]be forced to kill or die at any moment, 0:03:00.033,0:03:02.748 doing heroin is a great way[br]to spend your time; 0:03:02.748,0:03:06.058 but if you go back to your nice[br]home with your friends and your family, 0:03:06.058,0:03:08.950 it’s the equivalent of being[br]taken out of that first cage 0:03:08.950,0:03:10.721 and put into a human Rat Park; 0:03:11.561,0:03:13.999 it’s not the chemicals, it’s your cage. 0:03:14.539,0:03:16.557 We need to think about[br]addiction differently. 0:03:17.197,0:03:20.031 Human beings have an innate[br]need to bond and connect. 0:03:20.421,0:03:23.655 When we are happy and healthy, we will[br]bond with the people around us. 0:03:24.005,0:03:25.000 But when we can’t, 0:03:25.000,0:03:28.267 because we’re traumatized, isolated,[br]or beaten down by life, 0:03:28.267,0:03:31.564 we will bond with something[br]that gives us some sense of relief. 0:03:31.784,0:03:34.029 It might be endlessly[br]checking a smartphone; 0:03:34.029,0:03:39.909 it might be pornography, video games,[br]reddit, gambling, or it might be cocaine. 0:03:40.239,0:03:43.686 But we will bond with something,[br]because that is our human nature. 0:03:44.416,0:03:47.765 The path out of unhealthy[br]bonds is to form healthy bonds, 0:03:47.975,0:03:50.535 to be connected to people[br]you want to be present with. 0:03:51.265,0:03:54.417 Addiction is just one symptom of[br]the crisis of disconnection 0:03:54.417,0:03:55.704 that’s happening all around us. 0:03:55.974,0:03:56.918 We all feel it. 0:03:57.258,0:04:01.085 Since the 1950s, the average number of[br]close friends an American has 0:04:01.085,0:04:02.711 has been steadily declining. 0:04:02.881,0:04:05.841 At the same time, the amount of[br]floor space in their homes 0:04:05.841,0:04:07.419 has been steadily increasing. 0:04:07.749,0:04:11.764 To choose floor space over friends,[br]to choose stuff over connection. 0:04:12.584,0:04:15.336 The War on Drugs we’ve been[br]fighting for almost a century now 0:04:15.336,0:04:16.985 has made everything worse. 0:04:17.395,0:04:20.273 Instead of helping people heal[br]and getting their life together, 0:04:20.273,0:04:22.524 we have cast them out from society, 0:04:22.524,0:04:25.655 we have made it harder for them[br]to get jobs and become stable, 0:04:25.655,0:04:29.166 we take benefits and support away from[br]them if we catch them with drugs, 0:04:29.166,0:04:32.604 we throw them in prison cells,[br]which are literally cages, 0:04:32.604,0:04:34.774 we put people who are not well 0:04:34.774,0:04:39.020 in a situation which makes them feel worse[br]and hate them for not recovering. 0:04:39.440,0:04:43.355 For too long, we’ve talked only about[br]individual recovery from addiction. 0:04:43.865,0:04:46.309 But we need now to[br]talk about social recovery. 0:04:46.459,0:04:48.667 Because something has gone[br]wrong with us as a group. 0:04:49.097,0:04:52.579 We have to build a society that[br]looks a lot more like Rat Park 0:04:52.579,0:04:55.256 and a lot less like those isolated cages. 0:04:55.786,0:04:58.852 We are going to have to change[br]the unnatural way we live 0:04:58.852,0:05:00.508 and rediscover each other. 0:05:01.178,0:05:06.746 The opposite of addiction is not sobriety;[br]the opposite of addiction is connection. 0:05:10.806,0:05:13.152 This video is a collaboration[br]with Johann Hari, 0:05:13.152,0:05:14.108 the author of the book 0:05:14.108,0:05:17.729 “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last[br]Days of the War on Drugs”. 0:05:18.449,0:05:21.664 He was very kind to work with us[br]on this video to spread the word. 0:05:21.844,0:05:23.711 We recommend that you give the book a try. 0:05:24.651,0:05:27.672 Our videos are made thanks[br]to your support on Patreon.com. 0:05:27.942,0:05:31.690 If you want to help us make more of them,[br]we really appreciate your support. 0:05:32.620,0:05:35.746 We made an interactive version of this[br]video together with some friends. 0:05:36.566,0:05:37.921 See the link in the description.