[Music]
you
I feel like I’ve been duped I recall in
high school the motivational speakers
will come to my school and say don’t do
drugs
don’t you crack don’t you heroin don’t
do cocaine and don’t do meth I’d say to
myself okay I heard you loud and clear I
won’t do drugs but absent from those
talks was any reference to alcohol from
where I saw on TV in the movies as far
as I was twenty-one everything was going
to be just fine I started drinking in
college and I loved it I had a great
time I started to drink more and more
and I became enchanted with it after
majoring in business in Spanish I had
the brilliant idea to move to Granada
Spain and buy a bar looking back it was
clear I had a drinking problem at the
time it was ensued over the following
three years can be summarized with three
words total shit show now my drinking
became so bad in Spain I was blacking
out five to seven nights per week
twenty to twenty five drinks a night
that was the norm
one night I ended up in the emergency
room
I was thinking us having a heart attack
but it ended up being alcohol induced
withdrawal symptoms and a severe anxiety
attack I said to myself what in the hell
is going on I’m a smart guy why can’t I
beat this well my drinking only
increased so I did a smart thing I
walked away from the bar in Spain hoping
a geographical change what cure my
drinking but it didn’t taper off in fact
it escalated at a time when it seemed my
friends were phasing out of their heavy
drinking days I was ramping up again to
wonder what is going on so I decide to
do some research and I went to dr.
Google now with the help of dr. Google I
found an episode on the Freakonomics
podcast with a dr. David Nutt who was
hired by the British government to place
a harm score on 20 of the world’s most
addictive drugs
and his findings surprised me he found
that magic mushrooms do the least amount
of harm for those who take them and
others and guess what landed at number
one
it wasn’t meth wasn’t crack was a local
cane or heroin it was alcohol dude I’m
not like I’ve been totally and
completely duped by alcohol and why
hadn’t I known it could be so dangerous
well it turns out that alcohol is quite
addictive but what I didn’t hear from
those speakers and motivational speakers
in elementary school and middle school
high school was that alcohol kills more
people each year than every other drug
combined nearly 33 percent of all
traffic fatalities involved alcohol
around 11,000 in this country alone
85,000 Americans over 3 million people
worldwide will die this year two
alcohol-related causes so at age 28 I
decided to quit permanently but I
couldn’t due to the addictive properties
of alcohol I get dragged down in a
vicious cycle of addiction again I get a
week a month a year only to be dragged
down in the addiction again but finally
after a decade of being sick and tired
of being sick and tired and a failed
suicide attempt or that damn stigma on
September 7th I got sober now let me
tell you why this is my most crowning
achievement in life 5% of people will
make it to 90 days of those only 5% will
make it to two years that’s 2.5 people
out of a thousand will make it to 2
years of sobriety after they make the
decision to quit drinking so with two
months of sobriety I went to an AAA
meeting I was ducking and dodging behind
trees Thank You stigma and two things
came to mind number one I knew I was
going to drink again if I didn’t do
something different number two there are
so many people struggling why are we so
secretive about our drinking so I
selfishly started
the recovery elevator podcast to create
accountability for myself I didn’t care
who listened if it was just me my
brother my mom and my dad then great as
long as I stayed sober if I helped a
couple other people along the way that’s
a huge bonus
however what happened next blew my mind
the podcast has been downloaded over 1
million times in all 50 states in over
140 countries now I’d like to think it’s
because I’m a highly skilled interviewer
or that my topics are incredibly
insightful but I know it’s because
there’s so many people out there
struggling with alcohol and what I’ve
learned after having 120 interviewees on
the podcast is that alcoholism is not an
indication of weak morals are the one
lacks the muscle of willpower and it
does not discriminate I’ve interviewed
doctors lawyers engineers even a CEO of
a fortune 500 company now in 1956 the
American Medical Association classified
alcoholism addiction as a disease in
2016
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recognized
addiction as a chronic disease of the
brain worthy of compassion just like any
other chronic disease like diabetes or
heart disease why we’re still having the
bait if alcoholism addiction is a
disease or not he is a mystery to me but
I do know that it has something to do
with the stigma and it’s this stigma
that forces us to reach our most severe
moments in pain before reaching out for
help and oftentimes it’s too late me
publicly coming out is someone with a
drinking problem has been the best thing
like I’ve ever done for myself I created
accountability I found a way to help
myself by helping others and as a result
I’m approaching three years of sobriety
this coming September thank you thank
you very much that means a lot
now with so many people struggling and
the odds not in our favor how do we beat
this how do we return to a life of
happiness you must be clear there we are
facing two mighty adversaries number one
a dangerous and addictive drug called
alcohol at number two the stigma
surrounding addiction what I have
learned from after hundreds of
conversations with those who have been
successful in sobriety it’s through
community is the best way to face this
issue now regarding the stigma it’s time
to shred the shame this is a disease
just like cancer now imagine if someone
were to notice a mole on the back of
their arm I was rapidly changing size
color and shape they’d get it checked
out pretty quick now with alcoholism the
opposite happens we try to keep it a
secret place unrealistic rules and
strategies into place now what’s the
silence and anonymity that perpetuates
the stigma surrounding addiction so I
encourage you if you’re struggling with
alcohol or you know someone who is we
don’t be so secretive about it I reach
out before it’s too late because it’s
easy and understandable for one to be
duped by alcohol when people rarely talk
about it thank you
[Applause]
you
I feel like I’ve been duped I recall in
high school the motivational speakers
will come to my school and say don’t do
drugs
don’t you crack don’t you heroin don’t
do cocaine and don’t do meth I’d say to
myself okay I heard you loud and clear I
won’t do drugs but absent from those
talks was any reference to alcohol from
where I saw on TV in the movies as far
as I was twenty-one everything was going
to be just fine I started drinking in
college and I loved it I had a great
time I started to drink more and more
and I became enchanted with it after
majoring in business in Spanish I had
the brilliant idea to move to Granada
Spain and buy a bar looking back it was
clear I had a drinking problem at the
time it was ensued over the following
three years can be summarized with three
words total shit show now my drinking
became so bad in Spain I was blacking
out five to seven nights per week
twenty to twenty five drinks a night
that was the norm
one night I ended up in the emergency
room
I was thinking us having a heart attack
but it ended up being alcohol induced
withdrawal symptoms and a severe anxiety
attack I said to myself what in the hell
is going on I’m a smart guy why can’t I
beat this well my drinking only
increased so I did a smart thing I
walked away from the bar in Spain hoping
a geographical change what cure my
drinking but it didn’t taper off in fact
it escalated at a time when it seemed my
friends were phasing out of their heavy
drinking days I was ramping up again to
wonder what is going on so I decide to
do some research and I went to dr.
Google now with the help of dr. Google I
found an episode on the Freakonomics
podcast with a dr. David Nutt who was
hired by the British government to place
a harm score on 20 of the world’s most
addictive drugs
and his findings surprised me he found
that magic mushrooms do the least amount
of harm for those who take them and
others and guess what landed at number
one
it wasn’t meth wasn’t crack was a local
cane or heroin it was alcohol dude I’m
not like I’ve been totally and
completely duped by alcohol and why
hadn’t I known it could be so dangerous
well it turns out that alcohol is quite
addictive but what I didn’t hear from
those speakers and motivational speakers
in elementary school and middle school
high school was that alcohol kills more
people each year than every other drug
combined nearly 33 percent of all
traffic fatalities involved alcohol
around 11,000 in this country alone
85,000 Americans over 3 million people
worldwide will die this year two
alcohol-related causes so at age 28 I
decided to quit permanently but I
couldn’t due to the addictive properties
of alcohol I get dragged down in a
vicious cycle of addiction again I get a
week a month a year only to be dragged
down in the addiction again but finally
after a decade of being sick and tired
of being sick and tired and a failed
suicide attempt or that damn stigma on
September 7th I got sober now let me
tell you why this is my most crowning
achievement in life 5% of people will
make it to 90 days of those only 5% will
make it to two years that’s 2.5 people
out of a thousand will make it to 2
years of sobriety after they make the
decision to quit drinking so with two
months of sobriety I went to an AAA
meeting I was ducking and dodging behind
trees Thank You stigma and two things
came to mind number one I knew I was
going to drink again if I didn’t do
something different number two there are
so many people struggling why are we so
secretive about our drinking so I
selfishly started
the recovery elevator podcast to create
accountability for myself I didn’t care
who listened if it was just me my
brother my mom and my dad then great as
long as I stayed sober if I helped a
couple other people along the way that’s
a huge bonus
however what happened next blew my mind
the podcast has been downloaded over 1
million times in all 50 states in over
140 countries now I’d like to think it’s
because I’m a highly skilled interviewer
or that my topics are incredibly
insightful but I know it’s because
there’s so many people out there
struggling with alcohol and what I’ve
learned after having 120 interviewees on
the podcast is that alcoholism is not an
indication of weak morals are the one
lacks the muscle of willpower and it
does not discriminate I’ve interviewed
doctors lawyers engineers even a CEO of
a fortune 500 company now in 1956 the
American Medical Association classified
alcoholism addiction as a disease in
2016
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recognized
addiction as a chronic disease of the
brain worthy of compassion just like any
other chronic disease like diabetes or
heart disease why we’re still having the
bait if alcoholism addiction is a
disease or not he is a mystery to me but
I do know that it has something to do
with the stigma and it’s this stigma
that forces us to reach our most severe
moments in pain before reaching out for
help and oftentimes it’s too late me
publicly coming out is someone with a
drinking problem has been the best thing
like I’ve ever done for myself I created
accountability I found a way to help
myself by helping others and as a result
I’m approaching three years of sobriety
this coming September thank you thank
you very much that means a lot
now with so many people struggling and
the odds not in our favor how do we beat
this how do we return to a life of
happiness you must be clear there we are
facing two mighty adversaries number one
a dangerous and addictive drug called
alcohol at number two the stigma
surrounding addiction what I have
learned from after hundreds of
conversations with those who have been
successful in sobriety it’s through
community is the best way to face this
issue now regarding the stigma it’s time
to shred the shame this is a disease
just like cancer now imagine if someone
were to notice a mole on the back of
their arm I was rapidly changing size
color and shape they’d get it checked
out pretty quick now with alcoholism the
opposite happens we try to keep it a
secret place unrealistic rules and
strategies into place now what’s the
silence and anonymity that perpetuates
the stigma surrounding addiction so I
encourage you if you’re struggling with
alcohol or you know someone who is we
don’t be so secretive about it I reach
out before it’s too late because it’s
easy and understandable for one to be
duped by alcohol when people rarely talk
about it thank you
[Applause]
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