A Crisis of Ignorance: A Controversial View of the American Opioid Crisis

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As part of our ongoing coverage of the opioid crisis in America, we hear from Dr. Carl Hart, who has a slightly different perspective on the problem.

"The vast majority of people who use heroin are not addicted," he says. "Less than 10 percent of people who are prescribed this medication become addicted, so the addiction rates are not out of control."

Hart is the chairman of the psychology department at Columbia University, and author of "High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society." He disagrees with those who say this crisis is one of addiction, and wrote recently that people aren’t dying because of opioids, but because of ignorance.

Dr. Hart also makes the case that we turn too quickly to punishment for black and brown drug users. It's part, he says, of a long record of how America tackles these crises. 

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich.