Understanding Drug Addiction

Hanna Pickard says we need to understand the reasons why desperate people become addicted to drugs, seeing them neither as "victims of a neurobiological disease", nor as "selfish, lazy hedonists". "Choosing to use drugs, including alcohol, to gain pleasure and escape from life's banality, isn't the same as choosing to use drugs to relieve suffering." Recorded at the Phoenix Artist Club in London. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Producer: Sheila Cook.