The Eyes of Nye S01 E03 Addiction

>>[Person #1] I don't think
addiction is a disease.

>>[Person #2] I think addiction
can be overcome.

>>[Person #3] You have choices,
and you can choose to stop.

>>[Person #4] It's not a disease.

>>[Person #5] It is a disease, but it
doesn't need medication to be treated.

>>[Person #6] Of course it is a disease.

>>[Person #7] I just experienced working
in a professional capacity with addicts--

I think it's a disease.

>>[Bill Nye] Have you ever heard that
people say addiction is a disease?

>>[Person #7] I've heard
a few people say it, but it isn't,

because you can stop whenever you want.

>>[Bill Nye] So, who's right?

Is an addiction a disease?

Or isomething you overcome
with your force of will?

♪ [Singing the show's title:
"The Eyes of Nye"] ♪

♪ [fast-paced digital music] ♪

♪ ♪

♪ [singing continues] Nye... Nye... ♪

♪ The Eyes of Nye! ♪

>>[Adam Carolla] Hey, everybody. It's Love Line.

I'm Adam Carolla. That is Dr. Drew.

Phone number: 1-800-LOVE-191.
Bill Nye, the Science Guy in here.

Jamison? [button beeps]

>>[Jamison]Yes.
>>[Adam] You're 16?

>>[Jamison] Yes.
>>[Adam] What's up?

>>[Jamison] Lately I've been having
these dreams of, like, me smoking pot,

and I've been clean for 3 months now.

>>[Dr. Drew] Well, "using dreams"
are absolutely routine.

Anyone who's been addicted to a
drug and stops, will have "using dreams."

It's your brain really craving the drug.
That's the feeling you have.

You want to be using.
You want it so badly.

It doesn't sound like you're in a program,
because if you were,

people would tell you that everyone has that.

>>[Jamison] Well, I was in the program,
and I didn't really bring it up.

It just started recently...

>>[Dr. Drew]
Okay, well, tell your sponsor about it then.

>>[Jamison] Um...I don't have a sponsor.

>>[Dr. Drew] Alright, like I said,
you're not in the program.

>>[Adam] We'll take ourselves
a little break. We'll be back.

♪ [music starts] ♪

>>[Bill Nye] So, Drew, you do this
radio show, Love Line, every night?

It takes you just a few moments to analyze
people's problems, and you seem to be dead on.

What is it about addicts, what is it
about addiction, that you pick up on?

>>[Dr. Drew] How do I know it's addiction?
It's just...I, I...it's almost like a smell.

>>[Bill Nye] You're on the radio!

>>[Dr. Drew] I know! And I'll go to Adam:
"I smell it. I just know it's here."

♪ [music like from old TV shows] ♪

♪ ♪

>>[narrator of the video] Youth is
a happy time and a carefree time.

A time of auto rides and double dates.

It's a time of fun, pranks, and jokes.

Youth is a time for finding
one's place in the world.

But, sometimes in these troubled days,
the very thoughtlessness of youth

♪ [music changes to ominous] ♪
has led to a living nightmare:

addiction to drugs, too often
acquired with tragic carelessness.

To these addicts, life's only work
is to find money for drugs.

In their desperation,
no means is too foul.

Their only goal in life is to keep the deadening
chemicals forever in their heart's blood.

[sound of old film reel ending]

>>[Dr. Drew] It is important for me to--
for people, in this country in particular,

to understand this disease of addiction,

because the perception is
so far from the reality.

It breaks my heart,
the amount of suffering

and the amount of loss that
goes on because of this disease.

>>[Bill Nye, narrating] When Dr. Drew's
not working the phones on Love Line,

he's the director of chemical dependency
services at Los Encinas Hospital,

where he works with hundreds of addicts.

>>[Dr. Drew, addressing an audience]
...and I want to hear how, again,

it was or was not relatable to your stories.

>>[audience member #1] I smoked pot
with thousands of kids in my high school.

I ended up homeless and toothless on heroin.

>>[audience member #2]
Through this drug that I got introduced to--

it was like cocaine, and couldn't get
the cocaine, and moved on to speed--

I became this, like, superwoman and
I was just, like, everything and anything.

>>[audience member #3]
And every time I got pregnant,

like that [snaps her fingers],
I stopped taking drugs,

I stopped doing alcohol, I stopped everything.

Then after your child is a year or two old,
just naturally, you start using again.

>>[audience member #4] Since I accepted
that idea that addiction was a disease,

it's been relatively easier for
me to deal with my addiction.

>>[Bill Nye] Drew, in your opinion,
addiction is a disease, right?

>>[Dr. Drew] Addiction is a disease,
but really to answer that question accurately,

you've got to be able to
understand what a disease is.

The definition of disease, for me, would
be an abnormal physiological process

brought on by a relationship between the
genetics of the individual and the environment.

That pathophysiology will create
a set of signs and symptoms

that progress in a predictable way,
we call it a "natural history,"

and by affecting the natural history,

we can create a predictable
response to treatment.

>>[Bill Nye] Mm-hmm.
>>[Dr. Drew] That's it. That's disease.

And addiction does fit that,

but people get hung up on
where the physiology goes wrong,

and they don't understand
that it's a brain disease.

>>[Bill Nye, narrating]
Now, Dr. Drew went through that pretty fast.

Let's go over it again. So, what is a disease?

Well, it's an abnormal physiological process.

Something is going wrong inside you:
a virus is replicating, a tumor is growing,

or your brain is being
altered by steady drug use.

Now, diseases are brought on by the
combination of the environment and genetics.

So, [for example] you've inhaled a flu virus and
you've gotten infected, that's the environment.

You're color-blind? Well, that's genetics.

Diseases all have signs and symptoms,
they all have natural histories,

and they all respond to
treatments in predictable ways.

So, to see why we often think
of addiction as a disease,

we have to take a look
at how our brains work.

Like everything else inside you,
your brain is made of cells, billions of them.

We call them neurons.

Messages are carried from neuron
to neuron with tiny chemical signals,

across gaps we call synapses.

Now, at this chemical level,
everything we find pleasurable

amounts to nothing more
than a microscopic flood

of the neurotransmitter called dopamine.

So, we call this the "reward pathway."

We like the pleasurable feeling,
so we do it again and again,

do it again and again.

Things like eating, drinking,
and having sex are pleasurable

because they're required for our survival.

But, it turns out, there's a connection
between drugs and dopamine.

[cavemen eating loudly]

>>[caveman #1] Wow, these cocoa leaves
are really raising the level of dopamine

at the synapses in my brain!

>>[caveman #2] Yeah, you know, it's like...

it's, uh, almost mimicking the
neurotransmitter's structure

by tying up to binding sites the
molecules that transport dopamine.

>>[caveman #1] I've heard that to get high,
they have to occupy at least 47% of those sites.

>>[caveman #2]
Really? You know, I heard it was 60 to 80%.

>>[caveman #1] Well, sure, 60 to 80% for
MAXIMUM effect, but 47% at the minimum.

>>[caveman #2] Well, I don't want to get high;

I just want to get through
the cold temperatures at night.

>>[caveman #1] The cold doesn't bother me.

>>[caveman #2] Really?
So, um...why are you chewing on these?

>>[caveman #1] Because my dad
never played catch with me.

I think I'm gonna need a hug here.

>>[caveman #1] No, dude.

>>[Dr. Drew, to an audience] Down in here,
down in the sort of reptilian part of your brain,

we share that with mice and rats
and other, certainly, lower mammals.

And it's why addiction is so easily studied
in rodents and lower mammalian life forms,

because this is a disease
of this part of the brain,

of an area called the mesolimbic reward system.

And it's a part of the brain
that does not have language,

does not have logic... [trails off]

[to Bill Nye] It's basically what drives us--

it's the survival center of your brain.

Addiction is basically a hijacking
of the survival system.

>>[Bill Nye] To show the powerful effect
that drugs can have on the survival system,

an experiment was done with laboratory mice.

Now, these were special mice,
they were already alcoholic mice.

They were given access to all the cocaine
they wanted every time they pressed a lever.

So, the mice would maintain a precise
concentration of cocaine in their bodies,

pressing a lever every 12 minutes exactly.

After 14 days, the mice died. Powerful stuff.

>>[Dr. London] I'm a brain researcher.

Here at the Brain Mapping Center at UCLA,

we have this wonderful opportunity
to look inside a human brain.

>>[Bill Nye] So, doctor, let's say I were gonna
get a PET scan (positron emission tomography).

First, I got the sunglasses
because it's bright, right?

But, then what happens?

>>[Dr. London] If you were going to get
a PET scan, we would... [dialogue trails off]

>>[Bill Nye, narrating]
Now there are exciting breakthroughs

using magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs)
and positron emission tomography (PET scans).

We can get to the next level
of addiction research.

We can see exactly what drugs
do to the human brain.

>>[Dr. London] Here, we're looking at

the comparison of a group of
methamphetamine abusers

and a group of non–drug-using volunteers.

The blue areas are areas where the
methamphetamine abusers are not working.

If you have a look at the pre-frontal lobe,

the central area that's so important
for being able to make a decision

that involves balancing reward against
knowing that there's a negative consequence.

You can see that that area is just turned off.

But these other areas that are
part of that executive center

that are important in the emotional
state of craving are really hot.

>>[Bill Nye] You've lost your
ability to make decisions;

at the same time, you've lit up
your need, your craving.

So let me ask you this:

Is it possible that the methamphetamine abuser

cannot decide NOT to take the
drug that's related to addiction?

>>[Dr. London]
In fact, the very nature of addiction

has to do with the inability
to make proper decisions.

>>[Bill Nye] This pattern where the
decision-making part is sorta turned off--

Is this what happens to an addict?
"I can't decide-- Like, this is gonna kill me,

this is gonna kill me, but I gotta have it,
I gotta have it, I gotta have it"

and there's no--
They can't think about the future?

>>[Dr. London] Well, you know, for many years,

we were thinking that the
best way to treat addiction

was to come up with a blocker to block
the high, but that didn't really work.

And then the next wave of work
in coming up with treatment

was to reduce craving, but in fact,

I think the biggest problem in drug abuse is
the decision making that you just talked about.

Sure, craving occurs, but then
what is someone going to DO with it?

>>[Bill Nye] Because they're not thinking.

>>[Dr. London] The part of the brain
that's really critical for decision making

is just not functioning properly
in the methamphetamine abuser

(and in drug abusers in general).

One of the things that my colleagues
who are treatment providers have told me

is that it's very useful to take pictures like
this to show people that are in treatment

and it allows the person not to feel guilty
about not being able to do the right thing.

It allows the person to see that there is
some chemical problem that needs to recover

before they get back to a state where
they can make all the right decisions.

>>[Bill Nye] So, Doctor, you look
at these images all day, right?

You analyze these things.

If you had one thing to tell the world
about your research, what would it be?

>>[Dr. London] Addiction is a brain disease;
no matter how the addict got there,

at this point, he has a
problem making decisions.

The whole executive center
of the brain is involved.

The central area that's really needed
for him to be able to make a choice

when he's got to balance between a quick fix,

knowing that there's a negative consequence
is something that's not happening properly.

>>[Bill Nye] Addiction is a brain disease.
>>[Dr. London] It is.

>>[Bill Nye] There it is, in black and white...

>>[Dr. London] ...and color.
>>[Bill Nye] ...and blue and orange.

So how do drugs affect your brain?

Different drugs affect
the brain in different ways.

[narrating] For example, cocaine molecules
resemble dopamine molecules,

so cocaine molecules end up binding to
the receptors of the cells in such a way

that prevents the cells from removing or
pumping the dopamine out of the synapses.

And so the brains end up with
more dopamine and more pleasure.

It may be that the neurons in addicts' brains
receive such high levels of dopamine

that the cells try to adapt by reducing the
number of sites to which dopamine can bind.

Well, then, between hits, or during withdrawal,
when the addict isn't taking the drug,

their brains end up having not
enough dopamine after all of that.

So they start out taking cocaine
in order to feel high,

and they end up taking it
in order not to feel low.

>>[Dr. Drew] Every addict has experience
with being able to start and stop it

earlier in their disease;

that's what makes it so difficult for them
to accept that they can't, later on.

♪ [music like from old TV shows] ♪

>>[Mr. Sanders] Children, what do you think
causes addiction to drugs in humans?

>>[Mary] The neurons in the brain adapt and
respond to excessive stimulation from the drugs,

causing molecular changes that lead to
cravings when the drug is not present.

>>[Mr. Sanders] That is one possibility, Mary.

Tommy, what do you think?

>>[Tommy] I've read that addiction
can also be traced to genetics,

which (when combined with trauma) can
lead the addict to seek relief from reality.

>>[Mr. Sanders] Perhaps, Tommy.

But I believe addiction occurs
when someone you love

suddenly decides you're too needy
and throws your clothes out on the lawn.

>>[Tommy] Gee, Mr. Sanders, I sure
hope science finds a cure for that

by the time I'm older.

>>[Mr. Sanders] I wouldn't count on it, Tommy.

[sound of old film reel ending]

>>[Dr. Drew] You've got a family
history of addiction there,

you see a genetic predisposition,

there's some sort of environmental trigger --
oftentimes, it's trauma -- set up...

>>[Bill Nye] What's a trauma?

>>[Dr. Drew] Trauma would be-- usually a
childhood trauma is what we're talking about

and it's an experience of
powerlessness in childhood;

a feeling that they're threatened with
not being able to survive, quite literally.

And you're 15 and you feel out
of control and life sort of sucks,

and you can't figure out what's going on,

you can't feel good about yourself
or what you're feeling.

You look for solutions and
somebody hands you a joint

and oh, things are okay now!

>>[Bill Nye] We're gonna run
a little test here, right?

We're gonna have these people
drink what they think is beer...

but there's no alcohol.

>>[Dr. George] Correct.

>>[Dr. Marlatt] Some people think
it's just a biological disease, period.

But we're saying that's PART of it,
but the psychological factors

and the social factors and the
cultural factors play also a big role.

>>[Bill Nye] So what do we expect to happen?

>>[Dr. Marlatt] Well, we're gonna see
if we get a sort of placebo effect

in the sense that people,
if they think they're drinking alcohol

and they're in a bar setting
and they're with other people,

how much of the effects are due to alcohol

and how much are due to the setting
and the expectancy and they contact high?

>>[Bill Nye, narrating] Dr. George and I
are now observing behind a mirror

while Dr. Marlatt plays bartender.

>>[Man] Here's to science.
[Glasses clink together.]

>>[Dr. George] I'm looking for the usual types

of changes that you see in
people after they have a drink,

which are feeling a little bit more relaxed,
being a little more sociable,

perhaps a little giggly, being a little looser.

[Cheering, glasses clinking]

>>[Man, unclear]

[overlapping chatter]

>>[Dr. George] Those are the
typical types of things that happen

when folks normally drink alcohol,

and so, as a consequence,
those are their expectations.

And that belief is so strong

that just believing that they've been
drinking can stir up those effects.

>>[Dr. Marlatt] I'm gonna tell you something
now about what you've been drinking.

Somebody asked about what brands.

These were the beers; they're alcohol-free.

[various reactions]

>>[Bill Nye] Ladies and gentlemen...

It's really cool. You guys were carrying on

like you were just drinking,
you know, a lot of beer.

Not that I've ever done that.

>>[Some participants laugh.]

>>[Bill Nye] So let me ask you this:

Do you think it would change
the way you drink in the future?

>>[Participant] We could still
have fun without getting drunk?

>>[Bill Nye] That might be one conclusion.

>>[laughter from participants]

>>[Bill Nye] So I just noticed,

as soon as you guys found out,
nobody's drinking anything.

>>[laughter from participants]

>>[Man] Ray! Big meeting in 15 minutes.
C'mon! Put your game face on. Let's go!

>>[Ray] Uh, okay, um...

♪ [jazzy elevator music] ♪

♪ ♪

>>[Man] Hey, Ray. What's up?

>>[Ray] Oh, we got a big meeting in 15 minutes
and I thought I'd have a quick smoke.

[sighs] Oh, geez, I guess
I left them on my desk.

>>[Man] Oh. That was my last one.

>>[Dr. Drew, to an audience]
So let's talk about cocaine.

So you're using cocaine,
you get going with crack.

What does that look like when you start?
Are you with friends? Are you by yourself?

>>[Woman] In the beginning, you're with friends.

>>[Dr. Drew] You're with friends,
you're hanging out,

[unclear] you're at a party,
you start smoking crack...

♪ [sirens] ♪

The first time you take a hit,
the first hit of that [unclear].

How does that feel?
>>[Man] Awesome.

>>[Dr. Drew] How about the second?
How about the second hit?

[distorted speech] How does that feel?

>>[Man] Not quite as good.
>>[Dr. Drew] Not quite as good.

How about the 100th hit?

>>[Woman] You're just kinda like,
"Why am I even doing this?'

[distorted speech] That's the insanity.

>>[Dr. Drew] Let's say now, we're about
36 hours into this. Where are you?

>>[Woman] Underneath the tables.
>>[Another woman] In the closet.

>>[Dr. Drew] Under the table, closet...
>[Woman] Locked in a motel room.

>>[Dr. Drew] Locked in a motel room;

brightly lit with the curtains open?

>>[several] No.

>>[Dr. Drew] Who's with you?
>>[several] Nobody.

>>[Dr. Drew] Nobody. You're by yourself.
Who do you see outside?

>>[various responses] Everyone, police, the CIA.

>>[Dr. Drew] Police, CIA, who else? Who else?
FBI. Uniformed officers.

You look out the window.
Where do you see them?

>>[Someone] The trees.
>>[Dr. Drew] The trees! The palm trees!

>>[several laugh]

>>[Dr. Drew] You're in a dark room
with a single light bulb.

Your fingers are burned, you're under the table,
you're looking out at the LAPD in the palm trees.

Why don't you stop smoking crack?

You know, you KNOW, not only are you
NOT going to get what you got that first hit;

with each subsequent hit, you're gonna
feel crappier and crappier and crappier.

So you just stop, right? No, when do you stop?

>>[Man] You can't.
>>[Dr. Drew] You can't.

>>[Someone] When you run out of money.

>>[Dr. Drew] When you can't get it anymore.
[He chuckles.] That's when they stop.

They know hit #2, that they're heading down
this path to just misery and can't stop.

>>[Man] There's nothing that anyone can do,
say, or-- No way can they really help you stop

until you decide inside for yourself:
"I've had it."

>>[Another man] One has to be sick
and tired of being sick and tired.

When you get tired of just getting
ran over by a truck everyday...

>>[Woman] It doesn't matter the level of losses,
the level of death, the level of financial --

How many times people have been to prison.
When is it enough? You just have to be done.

>>[Dr. Drew] If all I had to do was
convince addicts they needed to stop,

my job would be very easy.

The problem is, I get them on their knees,
begging for some help with stopping.

>>[Someone] Mm-hmm.

>>[Dr. Drew] Their lives are being destroyed.

They want to stop in the most sincere
way they know; they can't do it.

Addicts have a misconception

that they can just get off the drugs,
get through the withdrawal, and that's it.

But no, the hardest part is staying off the drug,

and some of that is the result of
the chronic changes the brain is in.

But the real significant changes --

the the feeling of loss, irritability,
mood lability -- goes about a year.

Pinsky's Rule is one year.

>>[Bill Nye] Pinsky's Rule.
>>[Dr. Drew] Pinsky's Rule.

It takes one year to get the brain
back to normal after addiction,

and by "normal," it's still never really normal

because they always have drives

that are activated by cues or
exposure to these chemicals.

>>[Bill Nye] Mm-hmm.

>>[Woman] I have a drug counselor in an
outpatient program who always says to me,

"Your addiction is sitting in that corner
over there doing one-armed pushups.

He's just waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting."

>>[Man off-screen] Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

>>[Bill Nye] It the costs of addiction are so high

and the substances that get you
addicted are so common in nature,

then how can these genes
for addiction have persisted?

Why weren't these people
selected out by evolution?

Nobody knows for sure
but there must be a reason,

and there are some pretty interesting theories.

>>[The addicts I know were rich, phenomenal,
intelligent, interesting human beings.

>>[Bill Nye. off screen ] Bright.
>>[Dr. Drew] Bright! Brighter than average.

This cannot be all bad. There must be something
here that has caused this gene to be perpetuated.

It should have burned out centuries ago
if it really were just all about a disease.

Then i saw the movie "Braveheart,"
and I watched 10,000 guys go into battle.

Three guys survived, the three
remaining were alcoholics,

and I thought, "Of course. Of course."

They are so activated by thrill

that these incredibly overwhelming situations
for a normal person, they're somehow--

Time slows down, they're focused, they're into it.

If you look at populations of humans that have
[withstood] repeated military genocidal assaults,

you find a refinement of the gene for alcohol.

>>[Bill Nye] Give me an example.]

>>[Dr. Drew] Scottish. Irish.
North American Indian,

Central Europeans --

populations that have just
withstood incredible atrocities.

So I started going back to my patient group.

I give lectures every week, and I say,
"Guys, what would happen..."

(150 patients in the room)

"What would happen if Attila the Hun
and a thousand hordes came over the hill.

What would you guys do?"

Almost to a person, they'd say,
"I'd pick something up and I'd run at them."

I'm thinking, "Are you guys high right now?"
[chuckling] "Are you using drugs today?"

>>[Bill Nye, off screen]
You wouldn't run away, you'd run toward them.``

>>[Dr. Drew] They'd run towards the action.

I said, "Well, how about if a bomb
blew up in the parking lot?"

[They'd say] "Oh, I'd go over
there and check it out."

They go TOWARDS the action,

and I guess, in military circumstances,
being able to go at the action

and keep your wits about you makes
you survive, and that's evolution.

>>[Bill Nye] When you first start using drugs,
there's a time when you have a choice.

You really could quit if you wanted.
It's a window of opportunity.

But how long that window stays open depends on
the person, the drug, and the circumstances;

because sooner or later,
that window is gonna close.

And when it does, you no longer have a choice.

Now, you have a disease.

>>[Announcer] We've covered a lot of ground,
but it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Check out EyesOfNye.org for more cool science.

♪ [Fast-paced digital music
plays during ending credits.] ♪

♪ ♪

>>[singers] ♪The eyes of Nye! ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Nye... Nye... Nye... ♪

♪ The Eyes of Nye ♪

♪ ♪

[END]