Addiction is a brain disease. This is not a moral failing. This is not about bad people who are choosing to continue to use drugs because they lack willpower.

One of the drivers of heroin has been the misuse of pain medication. If we're gonna deal with heroin and heroin use in the United States, we really have to focus on reducing the magnitude of the prescription drug use issue.

I'm one of 23 million Americans in recovery who have gone on to live productive lives.

I would say that I probably had an unhealthy love affair with drinking. I grew up as this kind of insecure kid, you know, kind of making my way. And drinking took all of that away.

Blunt force didn't knock out the drug epidemic. 21 million Americans are addicted to drugs or alcohol. And half of all federal inmates are in for drug crimes.

We can't arrest and incarcerate addiction out of people. Not only do I think it's really inhumane, but it's ineffective and it cost us billions upon billions of dollars to keep doing this.

The hallmark of addiction is that it changes your brain chemistry. It actually affects that part of your brain that's responsible for judgment.