The first thing I did when I opened this article was search for "rat", and was happy to see it there. From the comments I saw I had a hunch it might be: I recently finished a really powerful chapter in the book "Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs" which describes an experiment involving rats that ostensibly shows that addiction isn't about the chemical, but rather it's about the environment and feeling alone.

But that chapter also discussed the broader challenge of escaping the view point entrenched in a generation that has only known addiction as a direct result of chemical action. And a huge part of this article, at least the first half or so I got through, painted this chemical action picture:

"The molecules derived from it have effectively conquered contemporary America." and it kept going on and on, to describe all the effects in wondrous terms, which seems to just reinforce what the book I've been reading claims are already a societal level view points.

I'm by no means qualified to speak about addiction from a public health stand point, nor do I really understand the pharmacological action of any drugs. But this book highlights many experiments or studies that indicate our current thinking is ass backwards, only to have the work squashed and funding ripped away. Now, I cannot stop but seeing these threads in most content produced regarding the drug war or opioid crisis. It'd be nice to know for sure, but it has become very difficult to even entertain the bullshit that politicians are still peddling w.r.t. to the drug war and realistic solutions.