Addiction is the country’s #1 health problem. It affects business and disrupts personal lives. It costs businesses and individuals. Joining Dennis McCuistion in this two part series are professionals who proactively work to educate the public on addiction causes, the costs and the solutions to addiction.
- Christopher Kennedy Lawford – Actor, Author and Public Advocacy Consultant for Caron Treatment Centers; New York Times bestselling author of Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption and Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery
- Kevin Gilliland, Psy.D- Clinical Psychologist and CEO of Innovation 360
- Bill Teuteburg – Interventionist associated with The Caron Foundation and a longer term residential program known as Renaissance.
Christopher Lawford Kennedy begins the discussion on addiction causes by touching on his own experience with addiction, mentioning that he was a highly functional addict and how that played out in his life. He touches on how addiction is psychological, sociological and 
environmental. He likens his experience to the result of a “perfect storm” of events. He touches on his traumatic childhood, from the divorce of his parents to the brutal assassination of two of his uncles. He mentions that at the beginning his addiction saved his life, “they (drugs) stopped working,” he says, “but they saved my life in the beginning.” Eventually, he says, the addiction takes over and you’re dancing with an 800 pound gorilla.
Bill Teuteburg discusses the disease and how it is even more lethal than many realize. “It’s not very often that you see alcoholism on a death certificate. But you will see heart attack, falling off a ladder…” and the actual cause is an addiction. Bill, now an activist, discusses his personal experience. He has been in recovery from a heroin addiction for 24 years.
Kevin Gilliland touches on addiction as a a chronic brain disease and not solely a moral or responsibility issue. He discusses the 
mixture of genes and environment and that individuals may have different reactions to drugs or alcohol, even in the same family. “You just don’t know if you are the one that will have one sip and then your brain will be hijacked.” Like Christopher, he emphasizes that addictions may seem to “work” but then they become a runaway freight train.
The panelists discuss our drinking age, and if it should be lowered or not. This episode on addiction causes is truly an eye-opening episode that will leave you waiting for Part Two, where each of the panelists discuss what to do about addiction, how to get treatment and the hope for resolving the problem.
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1805 – 10.25.09
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Last night we had the opportunity to be in room with many outstanding individuals as we continued taping the 2009 fall season of McCuistion TV at KERA studios. It was truly a remarkable time as we heard from some of our expert panelists. The first show was a two part segment on addictions where our experts discussed alcohol and drug addiction. The information presented by Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Bill Teuteburg, and Kevin Gilliland was truly enlightening and challenging to everyone in the audience. The segments were deeply touching as we heard from our audience members as they talked about how addictions had affected them in their personal lives.
The next two-part segment was on corporate governance and corporate ethics where we heard from experts ranging from Edward J. Durkin to Sharon Allen, the Chairman of the Board for Deloitte. They each bestowed on us a sense of hope for corporate America, despite the failings of the first part of the century.
Keep up with us on the website or on Twitter for updates on when the shows are airing. We are truly in for a treat this season as we continue to talk about things that matter… with people who care.
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