3 chapters across the catalog
Pharmaceutical Industry Response to Whitney Houston and Addiction
Following the death of Whitney Houston, the pharmaceutical industry and media outlets like CNN have increased promotion of drugs designed to treat addiction. Dr. Sanjay Gupta featured Naltrexone as a "cold turkey in a pill," framing addiction as a brain disease requiring medical intervention rather than willpower.
Former child star Danny Bonaduce appeared on CNN to promote Antabuse, a drug that causes severe physical reactions to alcohol consumption. The segment faced criticism for its medical accuracy, specifically Bonaduce's claim that the drug turns alcohol into formaldehyde, and for the sensationalized nature of the reporting.
Binge Drinking Study, Vivitrol Vaccine, Addiction Treatment
A new study defines binge drinking as consuming five or more drinks in a single day, a metric the hosts find overly broad. They play a news clip from St. Louis featuring Percy Menzies of the Assisted Recovery Center, who promotes an injectable drug called Vivitrol (Naltrexone) as a treatment for alcoholism and opioid addiction. The hosts express concern over the "miracle drug" marketing of the vaccine for various impulse control disorders.
