I know you came prepared tonight to hear
a talk about our opioid crisis and I am
so sorry to disappoint because it is so
much worse
very very starkly worse more ugly than
just the opioid crisis this is a problem
of addictive brain’s addictive all human
brains but I will also leave the stage
tonight with some very very hopeful news
and I can’t do this alone so I’ve
enlisted the help of four colleagues to
assist me in this effort first I’d like
to introduce the founder of shine a
light on heroin the the organization he
founded in 2014 this is marine teacher
mentor passionate activist and football
coach Jim Spellman coach has attended 40
funerals to be precise 37 of his former
students and student athletes and three
of their children Jim courageously went
solo in January of 2017 to Afghanistan
he had independently researched the
topic after all those funerals and he
wanted to fact check and verify to bear
witness firsthand that 85 to 90 percent
of the opium poppy is grown on farms
there what he describes as the source
it was his phone call to me in August of
2016 that started our personal
relationship renewal and
my Renaissance I’d like you to take a
pause for a moment take in the slide
inspire it as a gestalt here presented
are the ugly statistics and to the right
I’ve included some comparator death
rates but I don’t want you to focus on
those for now you’ll have them in the
slide sets I want you to focus on 2017
when seventy two thousand US citizens
died of opioid and narcotic overdoses in
the United States and that despite
falling prescription writing since 2011
by health care providers ladies and
gentlemen the basement mixologists and
the synthetic kitchen chemists are
winning but that stops tonight is this a
war is this an epidemic a pandemic a
crisis a scourge a tragedy a disaster a
cataclysm a catastrophe is it any of
these or all of these and rhetorically
has our response as a nation as a
developed nation been proportionate
tonight for the very first time on any
stage on the planet I would like to
present a new idea which I call SADS
psychoactive addictive all disorder
spectrum to the list on your left are
all the chemicals of potential use
misuse abuse
and yes addiction from caffeine nicotine
and alcohol right down to cocaine heroin
and LSD but also carefully look at the
other right-hand column there are
behaviors that can be influencing our
addictive uh brains
money gambling power and fame are some
examples the bad news
highlighted in yellow is the opioid
component out of all of this entire
model my second assistance tonight which
I will introduce is my brain and yours
for 36 years this was my favorite
structure in the body bone osseous
tissue fractures the operative
interventions that could be used to help
in its healing and most importantly
functional recovery but what’s hidden
under the vaults much much more
for your later referencing I’ve included
some amazing facts about this learning
instrument this organ of impressive
mutation but I don’t want to focus on
all of that what I want to focus on are
the facts that we were not privy to when
I went to medical school this brain is
whole and interconnected
it has stem cells for rejuvenation a
lymph system for waste evacuation a
selective blood-brain courier membrane
and it can rewire and heal itself
for an entire brain span note well there
are also 7.5 plus billion of these on
the planet talk about spacious talk
about capacity talk about market
penetration but the question is why is
such a well designed organ so
fundamentally vulnerable so addictive
especially in the pruning years around
adolescence let me take you through some
facts the novelty seeking and reward
pathways are communicated to internally
by dopamine the brain is a biophysical
structure it obeys natural laws like
pathways of least resistance and the law
of conservation of its energy and
resources oh no it is not lazy
it is extremely competent two facts you
need to take away as my message tonight
the first the brain produces its own
dopamine intrinsically internally what
we refer to as endogenous li or it can
get dopamine stimulation exogenously
that is extrinsic li or from the outside
the second point is because it is
maximally adept at determining how to
save its own resources metabolically if
dopamine can be supplied or stimulated
from the outside that’s the preference
and what happens mikey likes it
enjoyment happens
followed by habituation tolerance
dependence and addiction in exer ibly
and relentlessly and the time it takes
for the brain to heal itself once that
occurs is slow and painstaking depending
on the dose and the duration but it can
heal let’s return to that bad model one
more time with a different highlighting
it looked overwhelming in the beginning
but what I’ve highlighted here are the
elements within the model of hope and
agency prevention health promotion
renormalization and recovery this is
based on sound science called
neuroplasticity the exogenously
addictive brain returning to normal
function and healing and please remember
you know I’m getting a sense of
skepticism I see some folks that want a
little more proof of concept
my third helper tonight is George Walker
George dropped out of college became
addicted to every single item that he
could get his hands on that was a
potential for abuse he lived in the New
York City subway system homeless
panhandling commuter tokens thirteen
two fatherless families always wondering
whether he was going to return drop back
in whether he might in fact be dead and
then something happened at age 50 his
realization quote addiction is a young
person’s game his prefrontal cortical II
hacked hijacked hooked circuit sabotage
derailed exogenously dysregulated brain
stops at age 50 he returned to college
master’s degree completed a counselor to
others a PhD dissertations success
father author and now a burgeoning
stigmatization expert now his life is
during the last 600 seconds or so I have
changed your brains to up learning some
new information
curiosity satisfying executive functions
broadening maybe some deeper questions
all prefrontal cortical stimulants yes I
have but have I changed your mind
can you see within the SADS model a way
out of this opioid induced crisis so I’m
a futurist and we have a technique so
let’s imagine for a minute utilizing
what if we took our prefrontal cortices
all of them operating very well right
now and created a post frontal meta
consciousness extracranial II what if we
ignited a movement where we took our
best knowledge and replaced the just say
no 1980 Nancy Reagan Madison Avenue
preaching too next say K and Oh W no
using our best information this would
create a bold mind spacious abundant
positive virtual and real co-creation by
deliberative design and we could do it
by putting our critical thinking hats on
our open minds we have the tools we have
the skills we have the daunting problems
the question is do we have the community
the human will the universal caring and
the humanity to pull this off do we
collectively and distributive Lee on the
globe as humans with that brain have the
ability to integrate execute sapiens
upon our collective bests now I say
unequivocally yes you may say that I’m a
dreamer but on this stage on this TED
platform with this August audience I
[Applause]
I would like to thank coach my brain I
would like to thank George Walker for
permission to use his story and John
Lennon but I would like to thank you all
much more than that
for your kind attention and your
profound consideration thank you
[Applause] [Music]
a talk about our opioid crisis and I am
so sorry to disappoint because it is so
much worse
very very starkly worse more ugly than
just the opioid crisis this is a problem
of addictive brain’s addictive all human
brains but I will also leave the stage
tonight with some very very hopeful news
and I can’t do this alone so I’ve
enlisted the help of four colleagues to
assist me in this effort first I’d like
to introduce the founder of shine a
light on heroin the the organization he
founded in 2014 this is marine teacher
mentor passionate activist and football
coach Jim Spellman coach has attended 40
funerals to be precise 37 of his former
students and student athletes and three
of their children Jim courageously went
solo in January of 2017 to Afghanistan
he had independently researched the
topic after all those funerals and he
wanted to fact check and verify to bear
witness firsthand that 85 to 90 percent
of the opium poppy is grown on farms
there what he describes as the source
it was his phone call to me in August of
2016 that started our personal
relationship renewal and
my Renaissance I’d like you to take a
pause for a moment take in the slide
inspire it as a gestalt here presented
are the ugly statistics and to the right
I’ve included some comparator death
rates but I don’t want you to focus on
those for now you’ll have them in the
slide sets I want you to focus on 2017
when seventy two thousand US citizens
died of opioid and narcotic overdoses in
the United States and that despite
falling prescription writing since 2011
by health care providers ladies and
gentlemen the basement mixologists and
the synthetic kitchen chemists are
winning but that stops tonight is this a
war is this an epidemic a pandemic a
crisis a scourge a tragedy a disaster a
cataclysm a catastrophe is it any of
these or all of these and rhetorically
has our response as a nation as a
developed nation been proportionate
tonight for the very first time on any
stage on the planet I would like to
present a new idea which I call SADS
psychoactive addictive all disorder
spectrum to the list on your left are
all the chemicals of potential use
misuse abuse
and yes addiction from caffeine nicotine
and alcohol right down to cocaine heroin
and LSD but also carefully look at the
other right-hand column there are
behaviors that can be influencing our
addictive uh brains
money gambling power and fame are some
examples the bad news
highlighted in yellow is the opioid
component out of all of this entire
model my second assistance tonight which
I will introduce is my brain and yours
for 36 years this was my favorite
structure in the body bone osseous
tissue fractures the operative
interventions that could be used to help
in its healing and most importantly
functional recovery but what’s hidden
under the vaults much much more
for your later referencing I’ve included
some amazing facts about this learning
instrument this organ of impressive
mutation but I don’t want to focus on
all of that what I want to focus on are
the facts that we were not privy to when
I went to medical school this brain is
whole and interconnected
it has stem cells for rejuvenation a
lymph system for waste evacuation a
selective blood-brain courier membrane
and it can rewire and heal itself
for an entire brain span note well there
are also 7.5 plus billion of these on
the planet talk about spacious talk
about capacity talk about market
penetration but the question is why is
such a well designed organ so
fundamentally vulnerable so addictive
especially in the pruning years around
adolescence let me take you through some
facts the novelty seeking and reward
pathways are communicated to internally
by dopamine the brain is a biophysical
structure it obeys natural laws like
pathways of least resistance and the law
of conservation of its energy and
resources oh no it is not lazy
it is extremely competent two facts you
need to take away as my message tonight
the first the brain produces its own
dopamine intrinsically internally what
we refer to as endogenous li or it can
get dopamine stimulation exogenously
that is extrinsic li or from the outside
the second point is because it is
maximally adept at determining how to
save its own resources metabolically if
dopamine can be supplied or stimulated
from the outside that’s the preference
and what happens mikey likes it
enjoyment happens
followed by habituation tolerance
dependence and addiction in exer ibly
and relentlessly and the time it takes
for the brain to heal itself once that
occurs is slow and painstaking depending
on the dose and the duration but it can
heal let’s return to that bad model one
more time with a different highlighting
it looked overwhelming in the beginning
but what I’ve highlighted here are the
elements within the model of hope and
agency prevention health promotion
renormalization and recovery this is
based on sound science called
neuroplasticity the exogenously
addictive brain returning to normal
function and healing and please remember
you know I’m getting a sense of
skepticism I see some folks that want a
little more proof of concept
my third helper tonight is George Walker
George dropped out of college became
addicted to every single item that he
could get his hands on that was a
potential for abuse he lived in the New
York City subway system homeless
panhandling commuter tokens thirteen
two fatherless families always wondering
whether he was going to return drop back
in whether he might in fact be dead and
then something happened at age 50 his
realization quote addiction is a young
person’s game his prefrontal cortical II
hacked hijacked hooked circuit sabotage
derailed exogenously dysregulated brain
stops at age 50 he returned to college
master’s degree completed a counselor to
others a PhD dissertations success
father author and now a burgeoning
stigmatization expert now his life is
during the last 600 seconds or so I have
changed your brains to up learning some
new information
curiosity satisfying executive functions
broadening maybe some deeper questions
all prefrontal cortical stimulants yes I
have but have I changed your mind
can you see within the SADS model a way
out of this opioid induced crisis so I’m
a futurist and we have a technique so
let’s imagine for a minute utilizing
what if we took our prefrontal cortices
all of them operating very well right
now and created a post frontal meta
consciousness extracranial II what if we
ignited a movement where we took our
best knowledge and replaced the just say
no 1980 Nancy Reagan Madison Avenue
preaching too next say K and Oh W no
using our best information this would
create a bold mind spacious abundant
positive virtual and real co-creation by
deliberative design and we could do it
by putting our critical thinking hats on
our open minds we have the tools we have
the skills we have the daunting problems
the question is do we have the community
the human will the universal caring and
the humanity to pull this off do we
collectively and distributive Lee on the
globe as humans with that brain have the
ability to integrate execute sapiens
upon our collective bests now I say
unequivocally yes you may say that I’m a
dreamer but on this stage on this TED
platform with this August audience I
[Applause]
I would like to thank coach my brain I
would like to thank George Walker for
permission to use his story and John
Lennon but I would like to thank you all
much more than that
for your kind attention and your
profound consideration thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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