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

Addiction is such an isolating incident in your life. You feel alone. And when you admit, when you come into a fellowship and people just surround you and say, "We will help you, that you're not alone, that we've been through it before, and you will get through it," just gives you such great hope.

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.

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

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 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.

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.