War on Drugs: Myths of abuse and addiction

Host: Michael Benson, MD
Guest: Bertha Madras, PhD

By all accounts, Winston Churchill was an alcoholic and yet he functioned at a very high level until the end of his long life. Yet does everyone who uses a potentially addictive substance become addicted? Our guest today is Dr. Berta Madras who serves as the Deputy Director of Demand Reduction in the White House office of National Drug Control Policy. Prior to this government post, she was Professor of Psychobiology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is an expert on drug addiction and has authored over 130 papers and book chapters as well as receiving 16 patents.