TED-Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing - What causes opioid addiction, and why is it so tough to combat? | Mike Davis

What causes opioid addiction, and why is it so tough to combat? | Mike Davis

05/08/20 • 8 min

3 Listeners

In the 1980s and 90s, pharmaceutical companies began to market opioid painkillers aggressively, while actively downplaying their addictive potential. The number of prescriptions skyrocketed, and so did cases of addiction, beginning a crisis that continues today. What makes opioids so addictive? Mike Davis explains what we can do to reverse the skyrocketing rates of addiction and overdose. [Directed by Good Bad Habits, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Landon Trimble/ Playdate].

Previous Episode

Which is better: Soap or hand sanitizer? | Alex Rosenthal and Pall Thordarson

2 Recommendations

Your hands, up close, are anything but smooth. With peaks and valleys, folds and rifts, there are plenty of hiding places for a virus to stick. If you then touch your face, the virus can infect you. But there are two extraordinarily simple ways you can keep that from happening: soap and water, and hand sanitizer. So which is better? Alex Rosenthal and Pall Thordarson investigate. [Directed by Artrake Studio, narrated by Addison Anderson].

Next Episode

A day in the life of an Aztec midwife | Kay Read

The midwife Xoquauhtli has a difficult choice to make. She owes a debt to her patron Teteoinnan, the female warrior goddess at the center of the Aztec seasonal festival, who must be kept happy or she will bring bad luck. Xoquauhtli should participate in the festival today, but one of her patients could go into labor any minute. Kay Read outlines a day in the life of an Aztec midwife. [Directed by AIM Creative Studios, narrated by Bethany Cutmore-Scott, music by André Aires].