Jun 16, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min · 13 segments
**What actually helps people recover from addiction?**In this powerful episode of We're Out of Time, Richard Taite sits down with NY Times bestselling author, journalist, and leading voice in…
Richard TaiteHost
When you sit with people who are struggling, what do you wish more people understood about what addiction actually feels like from the inside?
Um, people assume that when you're actively using drugs, you're having such a great time that, like, you don't wanna stop, and that you are, you know, just in this blissed-out state and you're very hedonistic and you are very selfish and all you care about is your own bliss.
And what's really going on with the vast majority of people with addiction when they are actively using is that they are in some kind of emotional pain, and they are attempting to use the drugs to, uh, solve that.
Um, sometimes, especially with things like stimulants, even though you know it's gonna make it worse, you can't stop yourself from doing it.
But what it is definitely not is fun, and it is not the case that people don't stop using because everything's great and they don't have enough negative consequences.
People don't stop using 'cause they don't have hope that there will be anything that can give them what the drugs do, even if the drugs aren't doing it so well anymore.
Well, let's paint that for the-- Let's paint that, 'cause you're, you're a former addict, right? And were you doing c- you were doing-
Um, basically at the end I was doing speedball, so injecting cocaine and heroin together.
No, no, I just wanted to know if you were real or not, 'cause if you were snorting it, okay, then I just didn't wanna have the conversation.
So yes, you start off initially because either you didn't get your basic needs met as a child or there was a specific or continuous trauma, right? Something like that.
I mean, in my, in my case, um, as in probably most cases, um, it was a mix of things.
Um, I was a very nerdy, outsider-y kid who couldn't, um, had a real difficulty connecting with people.
I wish I had known there was such a thing as the autism spectrum, um, when I was growing up, because I basically met so many criteria for it.
When you sit with people who are struggling, what do you wish more people understood about what addiction actually feels like from the inside?
Um, people assume that when you're actively using drugs, you're having such a great time that, like, you don't wanna stop, and that you are, you know, just in this blissed-out state and you're very hedonistic and you are very selfish and all you care about is your own bliss.
And what's really going on with the vast majority of people with addiction when they are actively using is that they are in some kind of emotional pain, and they are attempting to use the drugs to, uh, solve that.
Um, sometimes, especially with things like stimulants, even though you know it's gonna make it worse, you can't stop yourself from doing it.
But what it is definitely not is fun, and it is not the case that people don't stop using because everything's great and they don't have enough negative consequences.
People don't stop using 'cause they don't have hope that there will be anything that can give them what the drugs do, even if the drugs aren't doing it so well anymore.
Well, let's paint that for the-- Let's paint that, 'cause you're, you're a former addict, right? And were you doing c- you were doing-
Um, basically at the end I was doing speedball, so injecting cocaine and heroin together.
No, no, I just wanted to know if you were real or not, 'cause if you were snorting it, okay, then I just didn't wanna have the conversation.
So yes, you start off initially because either you didn't get your basic needs met as a child or there was a specific or continuous trauma, right? Something like that.
I mean, in my, in my case, um, as in probably most cases, um, it was a mix of things.
Um, I was a very nerdy, outsider-y kid who couldn't, um, had a real difficulty connecting with people.
I wish I had known there was such a thing as the autism spectrum, um, when I was growing up, because I basically met so many criteria for it.
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3 of 8
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