ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Johann Hari - Journalist
Johann Hari spent three years researching the war on drugs; along the way, he discovered that addiction is not what we think it is.

Why you should listen

British journalist Johann Hari is the author of the New York Times best-selling book Chasing The Scream, from which his talk on addiction was adapted and for which he spent three years researching the war on drugs and questioning the ways in which we treat addiction.

He has written for many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, New Republic, The Nation, Slate.com, and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was a columnist for the British newspaper The Independent for nine years.

Hari was twice named National Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International, was named Gay Journalist of the Year at the Stonewall Awards -- and won the Martha Gellhorn Prize for political writing.

More profile about the speaker
Johann Hari | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobalLondon

Johann Hari: Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong

Filmed:
15,145,979 views

What really causes addiction -- to everything from cocaine to smart-phones? And how can we overcome it? Johann Hari has seen our current methods fail firsthand, as he has watched loved ones struggle to manage their addictions. He started to wonder why we treat addicts the way we do -- and if there might be a better way. As he shares in this deeply personal talk, his questions took him around the world, and unearthed some surprising and hopeful ways of thinking about an age-old problem.
- Journalist
Johann Hari spent three years researching the war on drugs; along the way, he discovered that addiction is not what we think it is. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
One of my earliest memories
0
597
1741
00:14
is of trying to wake up
one of my relatives and not being able to.
1
2362
3096
00:17
And I was just a little kid,
so I didn't really understand why,
2
5482
2953
00:20
but as I got older,
3
8459
1310
00:21
I realized we had
drug addiction in my family,
4
9793
2143
00:23
including later cocaine addiction.
5
11960
1834
00:25
I'd been thinking about it a lot lately,
partly because it's now exactly 100 years
6
13818
4779
00:30
since drugs were first banned
in the United States and Britain,
7
18621
3046
00:33
and we then imposed that
on the rest of the world.
8
21691
2515
00:36
It's a century since we made
this really fateful decision
9
24230
3496
00:39
to take addicts and punish them
and make them suffer,
10
27750
4053
00:43
because we believed that would deter them;
it would give them an incentive to stop.
11
31827
4387
00:48
And a few years ago, I was looking at
some of the addicts in my life who I love,
12
36238
4969
00:53
and trying to figure out
if there was some way to help them.
13
41231
3389
00:56
And I realized there were loads
of incredibly basic questions
14
44644
3250
00:59
I just didn't know the answer to,
15
47918
1810
01:01
like, what really causes addiction?
16
49752
2416
01:04
Why do we carry on with this approach
that doesn't seem to be working,
17
52192
3416
01:07
and is there a better way out there
that we could try instead?
18
55632
2905
01:10
So I read loads of stuff about it,
19
58561
1690
01:12
and I couldn't really find
the answers I was looking for,
20
60275
2667
01:14
so I thought, okay, I'll go and sit
with different people around the world
21
62966
3536
01:18
who lived this and studied this
22
66526
1664
01:20
and talk to them and see
if I could learn from them.
23
68214
2541
01:22
And I didn't realize I would end up
going over 30,000 miles at the start,
24
70779
3477
01:26
but I ended up going and meeting
loads of different people,
25
74280
2884
01:29
from a transgender crack dealer
in Brownsville, Brooklyn,
26
77188
2755
01:31
to a scientist who spends a lot of time
feeding hallucinogens to mongooses
27
79967
3554
01:35
to see if they like them --
28
83545
1286
01:36
it turns out they do, but only
in very specific circumstances --
29
84855
3081
01:39
to the only country that's ever
decriminalized all drugs,
30
87960
2771
01:42
from cannabis to crack, Portugal.
31
90755
2355
01:45
And the thing I realized
that really blew my mind is,
32
93134
2577
01:47
almost everything we think
we know about addiction is wrong,
33
95735
3784
01:51
and if we start to absorb
the new evidence about addiction,
34
99543
3087
01:54
I think we're going to have to change
a lot more than our drug policies.
35
102654
3422
01:58
But let's start with what we think
we know, what I thought I knew.
36
106100
3401
02:01
Let's think about this middle row here.
37
109525
2081
02:03
Imagine all of you, for 20 days now, went
off and used heroin three times a day.
38
111630
3762
02:07
Some of you look a little more
enthusiastic than others at this prospect.
39
115416
3445
02:10
(Laughter)
40
118885
1000
02:11
Don't worry,
it's just a thought experiment.
41
119914
2200
02:14
Imagine you did that, right?
42
122180
2039
02:16
What would happen?
43
124243
1150
02:17
Now, we have a story about what would
happen that we've been told for a century.
44
125428
3793
02:21
We think, because there are
chemical hooks in heroin,
45
129245
2497
02:23
as you took it for a while,
46
131766
1763
02:25
your body would become
dependent on those hooks,
47
133553
2554
02:28
you'd start to physically need them,
48
136131
1764
02:29
and at the end of those 20 days,
you'd all be heroin addicts. Right?
49
137919
3324
02:33
That's what I thought.
50
141267
1232
02:34
First thing that alerted me to the fact
that something's not right with this story
51
142523
3858
02:38
is when it was explained to me.
52
146405
1654
02:40
If I step out of this TED Talk today
and I get hit by a car and I break my hip,
53
148083
3715
02:43
I'll be taken to hospital
and I'll be given loads of diamorphine.
54
151822
3313
02:47
Diamorphine is heroin.
55
155159
1562
02:48
It's actually much better heroin
than you're going to buy on the streets,
56
156745
3434
02:52
because the stuff you buy
from a drug dealer is contaminated.
57
160203
2932
02:55
Actually, very little of it is heroin,
58
163159
1824
02:57
whereas the stuff you get
from the doctor is medically pure.
59
165007
2816
02:59
And you'll be given it for quite
a long period of time.
60
167847
2572
03:02
There are loads of people in this room,
61
170443
1858
03:04
you may not realize it,
you've taken quite a lot of heroin.
62
172325
2961
03:07
And anyone who is watching this
anywhere in the world, this is happening.
63
175310
3553
03:10
And if what we believe
about addiction is right --
64
178887
2353
03:13
those people are exposed
to all those chemical hooks --
65
181264
2572
03:15
What should happen?
They should become addicts.
66
183860
2210
03:18
This has been studied really carefully.
67
186094
1942
03:20
It doesn't happen; you will have noticed
if your grandmother had a hip replacement,
68
188060
3905
03:23
she didn't come out as a junkie.
(Laughter)
69
191989
2024
03:26
And when I learned this,
it seemed so weird to me,
70
194037
3589
03:29
so contrary to everything I'd been told,
everything I thought I knew,
71
197650
3506
03:33
I just thought it couldn't be right,
until I met a man called Bruce Alexander.
72
201180
3791
03:36
He's a professor
of psychology in Vancouver
73
204995
2598
03:39
who carried out an incredible experiment
74
207617
1915
03:41
I think really helps us
to understand this issue.
75
209556
2362
03:43
Professor Alexander explained to me,
76
211942
1738
03:45
the idea of addiction we've all
got in our heads, that story,
77
213704
2937
03:48
comes partly from a series of experiments
78
216665
2027
03:50
that were done earlier
in the 20th century.
79
218716
2086
03:52
They're really simple.
80
220826
1306
03:54
You can do them tonight at home
if you feel a little sadistic.
81
222156
2980
03:57
You get a rat and you put it in a cage,
and you give it two water bottles:
82
225160
3557
04:00
One is just water, and the other is water
laced with either heroin or cocaine.
83
228741
3744
04:04
If you do that, the rat will almost always
prefer the drug water
84
232509
3008
04:07
and almost always
kill itself quite quickly.
85
235541
2138
04:09
So there you go, right?
That's how we think it works.
86
237703
2477
04:12
In the '70s, Professor Alexander comes
along and he looks at this experiment
87
240204
3572
04:15
and he noticed something.
88
243800
1256
04:17
He said ah, we're putting
the rat in an empty cage.
89
245080
2479
04:19
It's got nothing to do
except use these drugs.
90
247583
2233
04:21
Let's try something different.
91
249840
1515
04:23
So Professor Alexander built a cage
that he called "Rat Park,"
92
251379
2928
04:26
which is basically heaven for rats.
93
254331
2516
04:28
They've got loads of cheese,
they've got loads of colored balls,
94
256871
3079
04:31
they've got loads of tunnels.
95
259974
1384
04:33
Crucially, they've got loads of friends.
They can have loads of sex.
96
261382
3191
04:36
And they've got both the water bottles,
the normal water and the drugged water.
97
264597
4790
04:41
But here's the fascinating thing:
98
269411
2685
04:44
In Rat Park, they don't
like the drug water.
99
272120
3458
04:47
They almost never use it.
100
275602
1689
04:49
None of them ever use it compulsively.
101
277315
2553
04:51
None of them ever overdose.
102
279892
1401
04:53
You go from almost 100 percent overdose
when they're isolated
103
281317
3390
04:56
to zero percent overdose when they
have happy and connected lives.
104
284731
3226
04:59
Now, when he first saw this,
Professor Alexander thought,
105
287981
3246
05:03
maybe this is just a thing about rats,
they're quite different to us.
106
291251
3239
05:06
Maybe not as different as we'd like,
but, you know --
107
294514
2477
05:09
But fortunately, there was
a human experiment
108
297015
2111
05:11
into the exact same principle happening
at the exact same time.
109
299150
3105
05:14
It was called the Vietnam War.
110
302279
1978
05:16
In Vietnam, 20 percent of all American
troops were using loads of heroin,
111
304281
4583
05:20
and if you look at the news
reports from the time,
112
308888
2608
05:23
they were really worried, because
they thought, my God, we're going to have
113
311520
3658
05:27
hundreds of thousands of junkies
on the streets of the United States
114
315202
3200
05:30
when the war ends; it made total sense.
115
318426
1916
05:32
Now, those soldiers who were using
loads of heroin were followed home.
116
320366
3286
05:35
The Archives of General Psychiatry
did a really detailed study,
117
323676
2954
05:38
and what happened to them?
118
326654
1904
05:40
It turns out they didn't go to rehab.
They didn't go into withdrawal.
119
328582
3560
05:44
Ninety-five percent of them just stopped.
120
332166
3286
05:47
Now, if you believe the story
about chemical hooks,
121
335476
2401
05:49
that makes absolutely no sense,
but Professor Alexander began to think
122
337901
3464
05:53
there might be a different
story about addiction.
123
341389
2307
05:55
He said, what if addiction isn't
about your chemical hooks?
124
343720
2841
05:58
What if addiction is about your cage?
125
346585
2646
06:01
What if addiction is an adaptation
to your environment?
126
349255
3114
06:04
Looking at this,
127
352393
1150
06:05
there was another professor
called Peter Cohen in the Netherlands
128
353547
3098
06:08
who said, maybe we shouldn't
even call it addiction.
129
356669
2447
06:11
Maybe we should call it bonding.
130
359140
1724
06:12
Human beings have a natural
and innate need to bond,
131
360888
2899
06:15
and when we're happy and healthy,
we'll bond and connect with each other,
132
363811
3554
06:19
but if you can't do that,
133
367389
2630
06:22
because you're traumatized or isolated
or beaten down by life,
134
370043
3800
06:25
you will bond with something
that will give you some sense of relief.
135
373867
3299
06:29
Now, that might be gambling,
that might be pornography,
136
377190
2572
06:31
that might be cocaine,
that might be cannabis,
137
379786
2152
06:33
but you will bond and connect
with something because that's our nature.
138
381962
3630
06:37
That's what we want as human beings.
139
385616
2716
06:40
And at first, I found this quite
a difficult thing to get my head around,
140
388356
3488
06:43
but one way that helped me
to think about it is,
141
391868
2431
06:46
I can see, I've got over by my seat
a bottle of water, right?
142
394323
3389
06:49
I'm looking at lots of you, and lots
of you have bottles of water with you.
143
397736
3524
06:53
Forget the drugs. Forget the drug war.
144
401284
1815
06:55
Totally legally, all of those bottles
of water could be bottles of vodka, right?
145
403123
4643
06:59
We could all be getting drunk --
I might after this -- (Laughter) --
146
407790
3686
07:03
but we're not.
147
411500
1152
07:04
Now, because you've been able to afford
the approximately gazillion pounds
148
412676
3477
07:08
that it costs to get into a TED Talk,
I'm guessing you guys could afford
149
416177
3381
07:11
to be drinking vodka
for the next six months.
150
419582
2354
07:13
You wouldn't end up homeless.
151
421960
1947
07:15
You're not going to do that,
and the reason you're not going to do that
152
423931
3601
07:19
is not because anyone's stopping you.
153
427556
1879
07:21
It's because you've got
bonds and connections
154
429459
2193
07:23
that you want to be present for.
155
431676
1524
07:25
You've got work you love.
You've got people you love.
156
433224
2477
07:27
You've got healthy relationships.
157
435725
2021
07:29
And a core part of addiction,
158
437770
2646
07:32
I came to think, and I believe
the evidence suggests,
159
440440
2477
07:34
is about not being able to bear
to be present in your life.
160
442941
3814
07:38
Now, this has really
significant implications.
161
446779
2339
07:41
The most obvious implications
are for the War on Drugs.
162
449142
3134
07:44
In Arizona, I went out
with a group of women
163
452300
3536
07:47
who were made to wear t-shirts
saying, "I was a drug addict,"
164
455860
3834
07:51
and go out on chain gangs and dig graves
while members of the public jeer at them,
165
459718
4753
07:56
and when those women get out of prison,
they're going to have criminal records
166
464495
3676
08:00
that mean they'll never work
in the legal economy again.
167
468195
2620
08:02
Now, that's a very extreme example,
obviously, in the case of the chain gang,
168
470839
3697
08:06
but actually almost
everywhere in the world
169
474560
2066
08:08
we treat addicts to some degree like that.
170
476650
2000
08:10
We punish them. We shame them.
We give them criminal records.
171
478674
2858
08:13
We put barriers between them reconnecting.
172
481556
2735
08:16
There was a doctor in Canada,
Dr. Gabor Maté, an amazing man,
173
484315
2979
08:19
who said to me, if you wanted to design
a system that would make addiction worse,
174
487318
3871
08:23
you would design that system.
175
491213
1607
08:24
Now, there's a place that decided
to do the exact opposite,
176
492844
2856
08:27
and I went there to see how it worked.
177
495724
1833
08:29
In the year 2000, Portugal had
one of the worst drug problems in Europe.
178
497581
3395
08:33
One percent of the population was addicted
to heroin, which is kind of mind-blowing,
179
501000
3975
08:36
and every year, they tried
the American way more and more.
180
504999
2768
08:39
They punished people and stigmatized them
and shamed them more,
181
507791
2953
08:42
and every year, the problem got worse.
182
510768
1819
08:44
And one day, the Prime Minister and
the leader of the opposition got together,
183
512611
3711
08:48
and basically said, look, we can't go on
184
516346
1979
08:50
with a country where we're having
ever more people becoming heroin addicts.
185
518349
3529
08:53
Let's set up a panel
of scientists and doctors
186
521902
2159
08:56
to figure out what would
genuinely solve the problem.
187
524085
2482
08:58
And they set up a panel led by
an amazing man called Dr. João Goulão,
188
526591
3249
09:01
to look at all this new evidence,
189
529864
1626
09:03
and they came back and they said,
190
531514
1572
09:05
"Decriminalize all drugs
from cannabis to crack, but" --
191
533110
4296
09:09
and this is the crucial next step --
192
537430
2270
09:11
"take all the money we used to spend
on cutting addicts off,
193
539724
3621
09:15
on disconnecting them,
194
543369
1397
09:16
and spend it instead
on reconnecting them with society."
195
544790
3640
09:20
And that's not really what we think of
as drug treatment
196
548454
4572
09:25
in the United States and Britain.
197
553050
1858
09:26
So they do do residential rehab,
198
554932
1581
09:28
they do psychological therapy,
that does have some value.
199
556537
2808
09:31
But the biggest thing they did
was the complete opposite of what we do:
200
559369
3383
09:34
a massive program
of job creation for addicts,
201
562776
2494
09:37
and microloans for addicts
to set up small businesses.
202
565294
2596
09:39
So say you used to be a mechanic.
203
567914
1641
09:41
When you're ready, they'll go
to a garage, and they'll say,
204
569579
2797
09:44
if you employ this guy for a year,
we'll pay half his wages.
205
572400
2887
09:47
The goal was to make sure
that every addict in Portugal
206
575311
2733
09:50
had something to get out
of bed for in the morning.
207
578068
2381
09:52
And when I went and met the addicts
in Portugal,
208
580473
3171
09:55
what they said is,
as they rediscovered purpose,
209
583668
2254
09:57
they rediscovered bonds
and relationships with the wider society.
210
585946
3105
10:01
It'll be 15 years this year
since that experiment began,
211
589075
2620
10:03
and the results are in:
212
591719
1643
10:05
injecting drug use is down in Portugal,
213
593386
1858
10:07
according to the British
Journal of Criminology,
214
595268
2591
10:09
by 50 percent, five-zero percent.
215
597883
2563
10:12
Overdose is massively down,
HIV is massively down among addicts.
216
600470
3676
10:16
Addiction in every study
is significantly down.
217
604170
2351
10:18
One of the ways you know it's worked
so well is that almost nobody in Portugal
218
606545
3839
10:22
wants to go back to the old system.
219
610408
1681
10:24
Now, that's the political implications.
220
612113
1864
10:26
I actually think there's a layer
of implications
221
614001
2999
10:29
to all this research below that.
222
617024
1636
10:30
We live in a culture where people
feel really increasingly vulnerable
223
618684
3262
10:33
to all sorts of addictions,
whether it's to their smartphones
224
621970
2956
10:36
or to shopping or to eating.
225
624950
1334
10:38
Before these talks began --
you guys know this --
226
626308
2307
10:40
we were told we weren't allowed
to have our smartphones on,
227
628639
2840
10:43
and I have to say, a lot of you
looked an awful lot like
228
631503
2621
10:46
addicts who were told their dealer
was going to be unavailable
229
634148
2985
10:49
for the next couple of hours. (Laughter)
230
637157
1905
10:51
A lot of us feel like that,
and it might sound weird to say,
231
639086
2847
10:53
I've been talking about how disconnection
is a major driver of addiction
232
641957
3393
10:57
and weird to say it's growing,
233
645374
1429
10:58
because you think we're the most connected
society that's ever been, surely.
234
646827
3572
11:02
But I increasingly began to think
that the connections we have
235
650423
2933
11:05
or think we have, are like a kind
of parody of human connection.
236
653480
3000
11:08
If you have a crisis in your life,
you'll notice something.
237
656504
2837
11:11
It won't be your Twitter followers
who come to sit with you.
238
659365
2910
11:14
It won't be your Facebook friends
who help you turn it round.
239
662299
2858
11:17
It'll be your flesh and blood friends
who you have deep and nuanced
240
665181
3143
11:20
and textured, face-to-face
relationships with,
241
668348
2242
11:22
and there's a study I learned about from
Bill McKibben, the environmental writer,
242
670614
4535
11:27
that I think tells us a lot about this.
243
675173
2183
11:29
He looked at the number of close friends
the average American believes
244
677380
3374
11:32
they can call on in a crisis.
245
680778
1927
11:34
That number has been declining
steadily since the 1950s.
246
682729
2994
11:37
The amount of floor space
an individual has in their home
247
685747
2850
11:40
has been steadily increasing,
248
688621
2043
11:42
and I think that's like a metaphor
249
690688
1880
11:44
for the choice we've made as a culture.
250
692592
1858
11:46
We've traded floorspace for friends,
we've traded stuff for connections,
251
694474
4851
11:51
and the result is we are one of the
loneliest societies there has ever been.
252
699349
3597
11:54
And Bruce Alexander, the guy who did
the Rat Park experiment, says,
253
702970
3167
11:58
we talk all the time in addiction
about individual recovery,
254
706161
3547
12:01
and it's right to talk about that,
255
709732
1903
12:03
but we need to talk much more
about social recovery.
256
711659
2531
12:06
Something's gone wrong with us,
not just with individuals but as a group,
257
714214
3629
12:09
and we've created a society where,
for a lot of us,
258
717867
2409
12:12
life looks a whole lot more
like that isolated cage
259
720300
2461
12:14
and a whole lot less like Rat Park.
260
722785
2047
12:16
If I'm honest, this isn't
why I went into it.
261
724856
3032
12:19
I didn't go in to the discover
the political stuff, the social stuff.
262
727912
3306
12:23
I wanted to know how to help
the people I love.
263
731242
2339
12:25
And when I came back from this
long journey and I'd learned all this,
264
733605
3239
12:28
I looked at the addicts in my life,
265
736868
2708
12:31
and if you're really candid,
it's hard loving an addict,
266
739600
4506
12:36
and there's going to be lots of people
who know in this room.
267
744130
2858
12:39
You are angry a lot of the time,
268
747012
2224
12:41
and I think one of the reasons
why this debate is so charged
269
749260
4001
12:45
is because it runs through the heart
of each of us, right?
270
753285
2800
12:48
Everyone has a bit of them
that looks at an addict and thinks,
271
756109
2947
12:51
I wish someone would just stop you.
272
759080
1751
12:52
And the kind of scripts we're told for how
to deal with the addicts in our lives
273
760855
3762
12:56
is typified by, I think,
274
764641
1172
12:57
the reality show "Intervention,"
if you guys have ever seen it.
275
765837
2953
13:00
I think everything in our lives
is defined by reality TV,
276
768814
2674
13:03
but that's another TED Talk.
277
771512
1445
13:04
If you've ever seen
the show "Intervention,"
278
772981
2188
13:07
it's a pretty simple premise.
279
775193
1456
13:08
Get an addict, all the people
in their life, gather them together,
280
776673
3096
13:11
confront them with what they're doing,
and they say, if you don't shape up,
281
779793
3632
13:15
we're going to cut you off.
282
783449
1338
13:16
So what they do is they take
the connection to the addict,
283
784811
2715
13:19
and they threaten it,
they make it contingent
284
787550
2096
13:21
on the addict behaving the way they want.
285
789670
2378
13:24
And I began to think, I began to see
why that approach doesn't work,
286
792072
3727
13:27
and I began to think that's almost like
the importing of the logic of the Drug War
287
795823
4550
13:32
into our private lives.
288
800397
1857
13:34
So I was thinking,
how could I be Portuguese?
289
802278
3668
13:37
And what I've tried to do now,
and I can't tell you I do it consistently
290
805970
3505
13:41
and I can't tell you it's easy,
291
809499
1949
13:43
is to say to the addicts in my life
292
811472
2484
13:45
that I want to deepen
the connection with them,
293
813980
2226
13:48
to say to them, I love you
whether you're using or you're not.
294
816230
3670
13:51
I love you, whatever state you're in,
295
819924
2832
13:54
and if you need me,
I'll come and sit with you
296
822780
2391
13:57
because I love you and I don't
want you to be alone
297
825195
2600
13:59
or to feel alone.
298
827819
1996
14:01
And I think the core of that message --
299
829839
2042
14:03
you're not alone, we love you --
300
831905
2669
14:06
has to be at every level
of how we respond to addicts,
301
834598
3065
14:09
socially, politically and individually.
302
837687
2623
14:12
For 100 years now, we've been singing
war songs about addicts.
303
840334
4248
14:16
I think all along we should have been
singing love songs to them,
304
844606
3900
14:20
because the opposite of addiction
is not sobriety.
305
848530
4248
14:24
The opposite of addiction is connection.
306
852802
3831
14:28
Thank you.
307
856657
1949
14:30
(Applause)
308
858630
7000

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Johann Hari - Journalist
Johann Hari spent three years researching the war on drugs; along the way, he discovered that addiction is not what we think it is.

Why you should listen

British journalist Johann Hari is the author of the New York Times best-selling book Chasing The Scream, from which his talk on addiction was adapted and for which he spent three years researching the war on drugs and questioning the ways in which we treat addiction.

He has written for many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, New Republic, The Nation, Slate.com, and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was a columnist for the British newspaper The Independent for nine years.

Hari was twice named National Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International, was named Gay Journalist of the Year at the Stonewall Awards -- and won the Martha Gellhorn Prize for political writing.

More profile about the speaker
Johann Hari | Speaker | TED.com