Posted by Vincent Banial

I just ran across an eye-opening article by Johann Hari which was posted ion the Huffington Post website. The article was about addition. The main focus was Drug Addiction, but everything applied to other types of so-called addictions like Gambling, Alcohol and Smoking Cigarettes.

Experiments with rats in cages have shed light on the cause of addiction. A huge intravenous drug problem in Portugal a few years back was handled very differently. Portugal results confirmed the results of Rat Park Experiments by Canadian Psychologist Bruce K. Alexander and his colleagues at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

Video is courtesy of the Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell YouTube channel

I thought about my past. When I was running my Computer Company I was smoking up to 2 packs of cigarettes a day. When I closed my company after 5 years, I stopped smoking. No nicotine patches, just quit cold turkey. I had never thought much about it, until I read Johann’s article posted on the Huffington post site.

It made sense why I was able to quit. as in the Rat Park experiments, I had changed cages. His post also opens one’s eyes to why there is heavy drug use in different forms of employment. Many Musicians visit my Uniquely Toronto blog. Being a Musician puts one into a certain type of Rat Cage (going back to the Rat Park experiments). Very successful Musicians, such as Prince for example self-medicated with Drugs. Many great Musicians lost their lives to Drug Addictions. Great Rock Bands while Touring were known to destroy Hotel Suites. I had often wondered why that was. Johann Hari’s article explained why?

I am fascinated by the Rat Park experiment. It explained why I was able to kick my two pack a day cigarette habit with no help. I will also be doing more research into this and more posts should result.

One other takeaway from this is that many in Law enforcement speak of Cannabis / Marijuana as being a “GATEWAY” drug which leads to using drugs like Heroin and Cocaine. The Rat Park experiments prove that to be very incorrect. Portugal’s experience with the way they handled their major drug problem, also proves that there are no such things as Gateway Drugs.

Video is courtesy of the TED YouTube channel

Enough of me for now.

Click on this link to visit the Huffington Post site to read the post by Johann Hari titled: “The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think“.

Click on this link to visit amazon.com to check out Johann Hari’s book titled: “Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs“, which is published by Bloomsbury.