Aug 16, 2026 · 26 min · 14 segments
Pharmacist Barry Newman talks with Shane Leonard, Addiction Expert and CEO of Into Action Recovery Centers of Houston, Texas. They speak about the new social media craze on TikTok and Instagram called…
Shane LeonardGuest
Barry NewmanHost
Well, unconsciousness, erratic behavior, psychosis, a- and then it gets worse from there.
And worse from there means loss of consciousness, organ failure, and then obviously the, the worst thing possible would be that somebody would die from that.
I understand that it can even cause heart arrhythmias, which can lead to a heart attack and, as you said, death.
You know, people are often confused about what addiction is and w- why people do these things.
Fundamentally, people drink, use drugs, smoke marijuana because they like the effects produced by it.
I tried alcohol, and I loved it, and, uh, it just became something that until I came to the realization by education that fundamentally I drank because I loved the effects produced by alcohol, nothing more, nothing less.
It is, and we live in a very fast time now, where we weren't looking to escape reality when I was a young person.
And, and I, I certainly have a lot of empathy for young people today because they are exposed to things like TikTok, and they are exposed to Facebook, and they are exposed to Instagram, where all sorts of things that are just reprehensible, you know, street fighting, cage fighting, bare-knuckle fighting-
It's glamorized, it's sensationalized, and it's advertised, and it's monetized.
Traditionally in the pharmacy, uh, patients always told me that they would use Benadryl as a sleep aid because they believed it was non-addictive.
But now studies are beginning to show that, if anything, it is an addictive product.
Well, unconsciousness, erratic behavior, psychosis, a- and then it gets worse from there.
And worse from there means loss of consciousness, organ failure, and then obviously the, the worst thing possible would be that somebody would die from that.
I understand that it can even cause heart arrhythmias, which can lead to a heart attack and, as you said, death.
You know, people are often confused about what addiction is and w- why people do these things.
Fundamentally, people drink, use drugs, smoke marijuana because they like the effects produced by it.
I tried alcohol, and I loved it, and, uh, it just became something that until I came to the realization by education that fundamentally I drank because I loved the effects produced by alcohol, nothing more, nothing less.
It is, and we live in a very fast time now, where we weren't looking to escape reality when I was a young person.
And, and I, I certainly have a lot of empathy for young people today because they are exposed to things like TikTok, and they are exposed to Facebook, and they are exposed to Instagram, where all sorts of things that are just reprehensible, you know, street fighting, cage fighting, bare-knuckle fighting-
It's glamorized, it's sensationalized, and it's advertised, and it's monetized.
Traditionally in the pharmacy, uh, patients always told me that they would use Benadryl as a sleep aid because they believed it was non-addictive.
But now studies are beginning to show that, if anything, it is an addictive product.
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