In this podcast, we discuss why “Just Say No” was a well-intentioned but naïve idea.
We learn that:
- Science shows that addiction and/or alcoholism are brain disorders that cause affected people to lose the power of choice.
- Therefore “Just Say No” only works in the very early going, say as a teenager who actually listens to his parents before he becomes addicted.
- There is astounding and definitive evidence that the brain can heal from what was once thought to be an irreversible condition. This does not mean that addicts are cured.
- What it does mean is that new, healthy ways of thinking and acting can create new neural pathways to replace the old, unhealthy thinking and behaviour.
- That truth has been known since 1939 when the book Alcoholics Anonymous was published, describing the 12-step process which has been shown, by experience, to restore “hopeless” cases to sanity and a full and happy life.