Talks from Addictions Old and New (October 22-23, 2017) and the National History Center Congressional Briefing on the History of Drug Policy and Addiction (May 9, 2016) are available online. The videos include PowerPoint slides, enlarged and edited for clarity, and follow-up questions.
Addictions Old and New, which Kyle Bridge first reported in an October 27, 2015 Points story, brought together scholars from different disciplines to discuss traditional and emerging patterns of addictive behavior. The videos feature neuroscientist Chuck O’Brien, historian David Courtwright, historian Virginia Berridge, historian David Herzberg, addiction medicine specialist Andrew Kolodny, cultural anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll, social worker and sex-addiction expert Robert Weiss, behavioral pharmacologist and tobacco expert Robert Balster, policy analyst Mark Kleiman, and historian David Leary.
Cultural anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll was among the featured speakers at Addictions Old and New. She spoke on Addiction by Design: From Slot Machines to Candy Crush.
Moderator Alan Kraut (left) kicked off the National History Center Congressional Briefing on the History of Drug Policy and Addiction, which featured an overview of U.S. drug-policy history by David Courtwright and an analysis of the origins of the opioid epidemic by Keith Wailoo (right). Historian Dane Kennedy summarized and commented on the presentations.