Is it possible, can you please share your general approach to treating adolescents and the difference in care from that that you provide to adults?

Absolutely.

So I'll start with a little bit of a personal story, get into a little biology and then a little bit of an approach.

But I was I was a drug user very early in my life.

I had some traumatic things happen to me and I turned to drugs.

And that really helps me to kind of go back to that time when there were so many things going on.

I was kind of thrown into this situation.

So it's a sort of two-part question to get your feedback on.

Mm-hmm.

I think where these medications have incredible promise is, one, if we can get over the accessibility barriers to these medications themselves, they could potentially be scalable addiction treatments that people could take on their own, mitigate their risk, decrease their risk of overuse, overdose, things like that.

But also, I think there's an incredible untapped population where we may be able to divert people from ever crossing the line into alcoholism or drug addiction.

So if someone is having a relationship with alcohol or opioids or nicotine that, again, takes away from their agency-

Mm-hmm.

These are things that are wrong with you.

For the first time with an effective medication, we've been able to say, "Actually, this isn't just about you.

This isn't just that you are doing something wrong.

So what are some of the pieces that you help your patients put in place to either to like maintain recovery, the addiction? Like what are some of the habits that they have to focus on?

Yeah, it's a big question.

The entire field of 12-step mutual help recovery is kind of aimed at that.

But how do you treat addiction? I think for me personally, the things that have been really helpful that I try to convey in my patients is the idea that, you know, I'm not in it alone.

So I identify as a drug addict and an alcoholic, and therefore I know that the alcoholism and drug addiction centers in my mind, and therefore the solution to those things can't be of my own.

I'm constantly engaging in community, asking for help.

For me personally, that looks like Participation in 12 step support groups like AA, having a sponsor, having close friends that like when my emotional triggers come up, my response is not to reach for a drug or for a drink, but to reach for the phone and discuss those things so that I'm kind of thinking about that process.

Can you explain a little bit about genetics and addiction?