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

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

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.

I think it's overly simplistic to say that any one single strategy is going to really change the focus and change the trajectory of drug use.

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.

Prescription drugs and heroin act in very similar ways on the brain. And, unfortunately, heroin, because of its widespread availability is a lot cheaper.

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.