To the Best of Our Knowledge: Telling Addiction

In this hour, Gabor Maté is a physician at OnSite, a Vancouver detox facility and the only supervised injection site in North America. He's also the author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. He tells Jim Fleming that addicts are always the victims of abuse, and addiction is far more common in our society than we want to admit.

Next, Mary Karr's first memoir was The Liar's Club and a best-seller. The new one is called Lit and chronicles her alcoholism and alcoholic family. She talks with Steve Paulson.

Then, Marshall Boswell, author of Understanding David Foster Wallace recalls that writer's fictional take on Alcoholics Anonymous.

After that, Dr. Olivier Ameisen was a cardiologist until his alcoholism left his life in tatters. He found relief with a drug that eliminates his cravings for alcohol. But it's an old drug, so there's no profit incentive to research this new use. He tells the story to Anne Strainchamps, and in his book The End of My Addiction. It's now out in paperback under the title Heal Thyself.

Finally, Jason Spingarn-Koff is a film-maker whose new documentary is called Life 2.0. It tells the stories of several people who immerse themselves in the Second Life computer game - some to the point where they confuse their game life with their real life. Jim Fleming talks with the film-maker and we hear excerpts. [Broadcast Date: March 10, 2010]