Understanding Joy takes a deep look into the life of Joy, a 57-year-old woman whose gambling addiction led her to embezzle $700,000 from two employers. Now facing sentencing, Joy wrestles with the weight of her actions and tries to help her children — and herself — understand the grip of her gambling addiction.
After struggling with gambling addiction, Ike Dweck slowly turned his life around. He has gone on to help others in need. He created the SAFE Foundation, an outpatient treatment program located in Brooklyn, New York. They serve as a reliable haven for those experiencing difficulties with cigarettes, vaping, prescription drug addiction, alcoholism, and compulsive gambling. In this video with That’s an Issue Podcast, he shares his inspiring journey from being a compulsive gambler to saving the lives of others struggling with addiction.
Beating the Odds: Overcoming Gambling Addiction tells the powerful story of Michael Mooney, whose first memory of gambling came at just 10 years old — tossing coins against a wall with classmates to win lunch money. What began as harmless fun soon grew into something much more destructive: a gambling addiction that would shadow him for years.
Anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll, the author of Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas, spent 15 years studying how casinos and slot machines are designed to pull users into a trancelike state called the “machine zone” where social demands, worries, and bodily awareness fades away. While in this zone, gamblers are not just playing to win, but rather, to play for as long as possible, regardless of the physical, mental and financial costs. While the gambler loses themselves, the gambling industry profits. She extends this research into digital / smartphone gambling as well.
Drug use in Afghanistan is at an all-time high. With NATO forces withdrawing and local law enforcement authorities having little to no funding, the poppy fields are thriving. In this documentary, 101 East investigates how Afghan authorities are fighting to regulate the return of poppy farming, the ramifications of the global war on drugs, and what the future holds for this vulnerable nation. Fortunately, there is one woman in Kabul who works endlessly to help addicts.
In this fascinating journey, Hamilton Morris sits down with Timothy Wyllie, an artist, writer, and architect known for his role in creating the controversial Process Church, a religion that challenged traditional beliefs. Wyllie’s lifelong quest to understand his own mind provides unique insights into the complexities of human consciousness.
Ketamine has emerged as a defining drug for a generation of young Brits. A report from November 2020 revealed that 1-in-30 young people had used ketamine in the past year — the highest rate ever recorded and significantly higher than in other European countries. Current data ranks ketamine as the fourth most commonly used drug among young people, following cannabis, ecstasy, and cocaine.
In 2021, over 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, making it the deadliest year on record. The latest phase of the overdose crisis is being fueled by synthetic substances, often combined with fentanyl to create street drugs that are even more potent and addictive. Beyond Fentanyl explores this unsettling landscape by examining the spread of benzo dope and tranq, their devastating effects on North American communities, and how U.S. drug policy has contributed to this surge in synthetic street drugs.
In this intimate BBC2 documentary, Adrian Chiles takes a hard look at his relationship with alcohol. He wants to understand why he and many others don’t see themselves as addicted, even though they struggle to enjoy life without drinking. Adrian, who drinks nearly every day, starts a diary and quickly realizes his intake is well above the recommended limit. Hoping to understand the roots of his habit, he visits his parents and reflects on how underage pub visits were more about friendship and belonging—a social draw that’s stayed with him since his teens.
This BBC2 documentary explores Britain’s drinking culture in the 1990s and the deep-rooted connection many Brits have with alcohol. It follows the lives of heavy drinkers who express their often tragic—yet occasionally humorous—experiences through poetry and song. Among them are a man who consumes at least ten pints of beer each night, a fashion model who drinks until she passes out, and a woman undergoing detox in a private clinic.