There’s a classic experiment where scientists took a rat and put it in a box and gave it two spigots to drink from: a water spigot and a spigot with a morphine mixture. The rat started with the water, and then one day, tried the morphine. He seemed to like it, because the next day, he had the morphine again. Then some more morphine. And before you knew it, the rat was drinking only morphine in higher and higher quantities. And that, dear listeners, is our classic understanding of addiction. You’re living your normal life, doing your thing, and some unscrupulous friend (or scientist, you never know) offers you an addictive substance. You take a taste. A taste of the forbidden fruit, so to speak. It’s chemicals interact with your brain’s chemicals and says gimme more–and after that, it’s on. Your brain’s on a wild and often irreversible ride. With such power over us, our main strategy has been to avoid that initial taste. Avoid even starting because once you start, it’s out of your hands. We’ve employed education campaigns, zero tolerance laws, and harsher sentencing all in an effort to prevent that initial taste. So grab some popcorn as we get ready for today’s Appendix, which takes the form of an 80-year old movie reel, roled up and reeking of reefer in the Book of Common Knowledge: On Addiction