Addiction�s Mysteries: Plato, Rat Park, and Harm Reduction, with Dr. Bruce Alexander

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Friday, September 12th, 2014
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM

Dr. Bruce Alexander began trying to understand addiction as a laboratory researcher. However, the still unsolved mysteries of addiction eventually drew him from the a-historical thinking of the behavioral and neuroscience laboratories to history. This presentation will start with Plato�s theory of addiction in declining democratic societies, will transition to the history of alcoholism and drug addiction in British Columbia, and will end by considering both the value and limitations of harm reduction, as well as what may come next.

In his long career as a psychologist, Bruce Alexander has held many positions, from student cage cleaner to Professor Emeritus at SFU. His graduate training was at the University of Wisconsin in Harry Harlow�s laboratory. His three books are: Peaceful Measures: Canada�s Way Out of the War on Drugs (Univ. of Toronto Press, 1990); The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit (Oxford Univ. Press, 2010); and A History of Psychology in Western Civilization (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014; Curt Shelton co-author). The book he most wishes he wrote himself is Carl Hart�s High Price: A neuroscientist�s journey of discovery that challenges everything you know about drugs and society (2013). www.brucekalexander.com