Johann Hari: Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong
Johann Hari: Todo lo que crees saber sobre la adicción está mal
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
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one of my relatives and not being able to.
a un familiar y no pude hacerlo.
so I didn't really understand why,
y no entendí porqué,
adicción a las drogas,
drug addiction in my family,
en parte, porque se cumplen 100 años
partly because it's now exactly 100 years
en EE. UU. y Gran Bretaña,
in the United States and Britain,
en todo el mundo.
on the rest of the world.
tomamos la fatídica decisión,
this really fateful decision
and make them suffer,
castigarlos y hacerlos sufrir,
it would give them an incentive to stop.
y les daría un incentivo para detenerse.
some of the addicts in my life who I love,
adictos en mi vida, a quienes amo,
if there was some way to help them.
si había alguna forma de ayudarlos.
of incredibly basic questions
preguntas increíblemente básicas
una adicción?
que aparentemente no funciona,
that doesn't seem to be working,
que podamos intentar?
that we could try instead?
respuestas que buscaba,
the answers I was looking for,
personas de todo el mundo
with different people around the world
si puedo aprender de ellos.
if I could learn from them.
me tomaría 30 000 millas,
going over 30,000 miles at the start,
a todo tipo de personas,
loads of different people,
en Brownsville, Brooklyn,
in Brownsville, Brooklyn,
mucho tiempo
feeding hallucinogens to mongooses
para ver si les gustan...
en circunstancias específicas...
in very specific circumstances --
despenalizado todas las drogas,
decriminalized all drugs,
hasta el crack, Portugal.
that really blew my mind is,
mi forma de pensar es,
we know about addiction is wrong,
saber sobre la adicción esta mal,
the new evidence about addiction,
la nueva evidencia sobre la adicción,
a lot more than our drug policies.
que nuestras políticas de drogas.
we know, what I thought I knew.
que sabemos, lo que pensaba que sabía.
off and used heroin three times a day.
usaron heroína tres veces al día.
enthusiastic than others at this prospect.
que otros sobre esto.
solo es un experimento teórico.
it's just a thought experiment.
que se ha contado por un siglo.
happen that we've been told for a century.
químicos en la heroína,
chemical hooks in heroin,
a estos ganchos,
dependent on those hooks,
serás un adicto a la heroína. ¿Cierto?
you'd all be heroin addicts. Right?
algo no estaba bien con esta historia
that something's not right with this story
me atropella y me fractura la cadera,
and I get hit by a car and I break my hip,
y me administrarían mucha diamorfina.
and I'll be given loads of diamorphine.
than you're going to buy on the streets,
que la se consigue en la calle,
traficante está contaminada,
from a drug dealer is contaminated.
el doctor es médicamente pura.
from the doctor is medically pure.
un largo período de tiempo.
a long period of time.
que ha consumido mucha heroína.
you've taken quite a lot of heroin.
del mundo.
anywhere in the world, this is happening.
adicción es correcto...
about addiction is right --
a los ganchos químicos...
to all those chemical hooks --
Deberían volverse adictos.
They should become addicts.
su abuela tiene una operación de cadera
if your grandmother had a hip replacement,
(Risas)
(Laughter)
me pareció muy extraño,
it seemed so weird to me,
todo lo que pensé que sabía,
everything I thought I knew,
hasta que conocí a Bruce Alexander.
until I met a man called Bruce Alexander.
de Vancouver
of psychology in Vancouver
a entender este tema.
to understand this issue.
de una serie de experimentos
got in our heads, that story,
in the 20th century.
si se sienten algo sádicos.
if you feel a little sadistic.
y le dan dos botellas de agua.
and you give it two water bottles:
mezclada con heroína o cocaína.
laced with either heroin or cocaine.
preferirá el agua con droga
prefer the drug water
con su vida rápidamente.
kill itself quite quickly.
Así es como pensamos que funciona.
That's how we think it works.
vio el experimento
along and he looks at this experiment
en una jaula vacía.
the rat in an empty cage.
excepto usar drogas.
except use these drugs.
jaula a la que llamó "Parque de ratas",
that he called "Rat Park,"
un cielo para las ratas.
they've got loads of colored balls,
pelotas de colores,
Podían tener mucho sexo.
They can have loads of sex.
de agua normal y de agua con droga.
the normal water and the drugged water.
like the drug water.
no les gustaba el agua con droga.
when they're isolated
sobredosis al estar aisladas
have happy and connected lives.
un ambiente feliz y con relaciones.
Professor Alexander thought,
el profesor Alexander pensó:
they're quite different to us.
son diferentes a nosotros.
but, you know --
quisieramos, ya saben.
a human experiment
experimento en humanos
at the exact same time.
en la misma época.
troops were using loads of heroin,
estadounidenses usaban heroína,
reports from the time,
de esa época,
they thought, my God, we're going to have
porque pensaban, ¡Dios!,
de drogadictos en las calles de EE. UU.
on the streets of the United States
soldados que usaron heroína.
loads of heroin were followed home.
hizo un estudio muy detallado,
did a really detailed study,
rehabilitación. No sufrieron abstinencia.
They didn't go into withdrawal.
anzuelos químicos,
about chemical hooks,
y el profesor Alexander empezo a pensar
but Professor Alexander began to think
diferente de la adicción.
story about addiction.
que ver con los ganchos químicos?
about your chemical hooks?
que ver con tu jaula?
tu adaptación al ambiente?
to your environment?
Peter Cohen de Holanda
called Peter Cohen in the Netherlands
llamarlo adicción.
even call it addiction.
llamarlo conexión".
and innate need to bond,
natural e innata de conectarse,
we'll bond and connect with each other,
nos vinculamos y conectamos con otros,
or beaten down by life,
o muy golpeados por la vida,
that will give you some sense of relief.
que les de alguna sensación de alivio.
that might be pornography,
pornografía,
that might be cannabis,
with something because that's our nature.
con algo porque es nuestra naturaleza.
a difficult thing to get my head around,
no me entraba en la cabeza,
to think about it is,
que me ayudó a entender.
a bottle of water, right?
tengo una botella de agua, ¿cierto?
of you have bottles of water with you.
botellas de agua.
la guerra contra ellas.
of water could be bottles of vodka, right?
podrían ser botellas de vodka, ¿cierto?
I might after this -- (Laughter) --
(Risas)
the approximately gazillion pounds
muchas libras
TED, creo que pueden solventar
I'm guessing you guys could afford
por los próximos 6 meses.
for the next six months.
and the reason you're not going to do that
y la razón para no hacerlo
bonds and connections
vínculos y conexiones
You've got people you love.
Y a personas que aman.
the evidence suggests,
la evidencia sugiere,
to be present in your life.
estar presente en tu vida.
significant implications.
muy significativas.
are for the War on Drugs.
son para la guerra contra las drogas.
with a group of women
un grupo de mujeres
saying, "I was a drug addict,"
camisetas que decían: "Fui drogadicta",
while members of the public jeer at them,
mientras el público se burlaba de ellas,
they're going to have criminal records
tendrán antecedentes penales
in the legal economy again.
trabajarán legalmente.
obviously, in the case of the chain gang,
evidentemente en el caso de las cadenas,
everywhere in the world
tratamos a los adictos así.
les creamos antecedentes penales.
We give them criminal records.
puedan reconectarse.
el Dr. Gabor Maté, un gran hombre,
Dr. Gabor Maté, an amazing man,
un sistema que empeore la adicción,
a system that would make addiction worse,
hacer lo contrario,
to do the exact opposite,
peores problemas de drogas en Europa.
one of the worst drug problems in Europe.
a la heroína, que es increíble,
to heroin, which is kind of mind-blowing,
estadounidense más y más.
the American way more and more.
las marcaban y avergonzaban,
and shamed them more,
y el líder de la oposición se reunieron
the leader of the opposition got together,
no podemos seguir
se vuelven adictas a la heroína.
ever more people becoming heroin addicts.
de científicos y doctores
como resolver el problema.
of scientists and doctors
gran hombre llamado Dr. João Goulão,
genuinely solve the problem.
an amazing man called Dr. João Goulão,
desde la cannabis al crack, pero"...
from cannabis to crack, but" --
en aislar a los adictos,
on cutting addicts off,
con la sociedad".
on reconnecting them with society."
el tratamiento de drogadicción
as drug treatment
de rehabilitación,
que tiene cierto valor.
that does have some value.
fue totalmente opuesto a lo que hacemos:
was the complete opposite of what we do:
de empleo para adictos
of job creation for addicts,
para crear pequeñas empresas.
to set up small businesses.
irán a un taller y dirán:
to a garage, and they'll say,
pagaremos la mitad de su salario.
we'll pay half his wages.
cada adicto en Portugal
that every addict in Portugal
dejar la cama en la mañana.
of bed for in the morning.
a los adictos en Portugal,
in Portugal,
y relaciones con la sociedad.
as they rediscovered purpose,
and relationships with the wider society.
desde que empezó este experimento,
since that experiment began,
Journal of Criminology,
Journal of Criminology,
tremendamente entre los adictos,
HIV is massively down among addicts.
está significativamente a la baja.
is significantly down.
so well is that almost nobody in Portugal
es que casi nadie en Portugal
of implications
se siente cada vez más vulnerable
feel really increasingly vulnerable
desde a un teléfono inteligente,
whether it's to their smartphones
ustedes sabían...
you guys know this --
nuestros teléfonos,
to have our smartphones on,
tan mal como cuando
looked an awful lot like
su vendedor no estará disponible
was going to be unavailable
y puede sonar muy extraño,
and it might sound weird to say,
más importante de la adicción
is a major driver of addiction
más conectada que nunca.
society that's ever been, surely.
las conexiones que tenemos,
that the connections we have
de las conexiones humanas.
of parody of human connection.
se darán cuenta de algo.
you'll notice something.
quienes los acompañarán.
who come to sit with you.
quienes los ayudarán.
who help you turn it round.
con quienes tienen relaciones
who you have deep and nuanced
relationships with,
el escritor ambientalista,
Bill McKibben, the environmental writer,
que el estadounidense promedio cree
the average American believes
progresivamente desde 1950.
steadily since the 1950s.
persona tiene en su casa
an individual has in their home
como cultura.
y vínculos por cosas,
we've traded stuff for connections,
sociedades más solitarias
loneliest societies there has ever been.
el Parque de Ratas, dice:
the Rat Park experiment, says,
como una recuperación individual,
about individual recovery,
about social recovery.
de una recuperación social.
not just with individuals but as a group,
como individuos y también como grupo.
for a lot of us,
donde, para muchos,
a una jaula aislada
like that isolated cage
why I went into it.
por la que me involucré.
the political stuff, the social stuff.
a la política o a la sociedad.
the people I love.
a la gente que amo.
long journey and I'd learned all this,
y había aprendido todo esto,
it's hard loving an addict,
es difícil amar a un adicto,
este auditorio que lo saben.
who know in this room.
este debate es tan controversial
why this debate is so charged
¿cierto?
of each of us, right?
cuando al ver un adicto piensan:
that looks at an addict and thinks,
lidiar con los adictos de nuestra vida
to deal with the addicts in our lives
tal vez lo han visto.
if you guys have ever seen it.
es definido por reality shows,
is defined by reality TV,
"Intervención"
the show "Intervention,"
su vida y los reúnen a todos,
in their life, gather them together,
y les dicen, si no te compones
and they say, if you don't shape up,
las conexiones del adicto,
the connection to the addict,
y los condicionan
they make it contingent
que ellos desean.
why that approach doesn't work,
porque este enfoque no funciona,
the importing of the logic of the Drug War
la lógica de la guerra contra las drogas
how could I be Portuguese?
¿cómo sería ser portugués?
and I can't tell you I do it consistently
no puedo decir que lo hago siempre
conexiones con ellos,
the connection with them,
whether you're using or you're not.
estén usando drogas o no.
I'll come and sit with you
vendré y estaré con ustedes
want you to be alone
que estén solos
de respuesta a los adictos,
of how we respond to addicts,
war songs about addicts.
de guerra sobre los adictos.
singing love songs to them,
canciones de amor para ellos,
is not sobriety.
no es la sobriedad.
es la conexión.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Johann Hari - JournalistJohann 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.
Johann Hari | Speaker | TED.com