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Episode Summary
The hosts step into the debate between those that espouse the efficacy of 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and those who assert that there is no proof that such programs are any more effective than seeking traditional medical help. Also: is alcoholism really a "disease?"''''Guest Experts featured in this episode include:''Wally Paton {Founder- Back to Basics)''Jim Christopher (Founder and Director- SOS)''Ben Wizner (ACLU Attorney)''Jeffrey Schaler (Author of "Addiction is a Choice", Psychologist and Asst. Prof. at American University)''Lloyd Vacosky (Director- Assisted Recovery)''Dee-Dee Stout (Substance Abuse Professional, Recovered Alcoholic and Drug Addict)''Skip Davis (Recovering Alcoholic)''Dr. Lance Dodes (Author of "The Heart of Addiction")''Mike Jones (Piano player for Penn and Teller, Formerly overweight)''Steve Mack (Legal Researcher)''Sue Ellen Calderwood (Assisted Recovery Member)''Dr. Samuel Walker (Physician)''''moreless
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Penn Jillette
Himself
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Teller
Himself
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Gary Busey
Himself
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Trivia
ADD TRIVIA- The things Teller takes out to "improve his conscious contact with God" while acting out the 12 Steps are: a Buddha statue, a chalice with Hebrew lettering, a small cross, a crown of thorns, and a whip with which he beats himself. Edit
- When Teller acts out the step in 12 Step where he is supposed to make a list of those to whom he has wronged, and make retribution to them, he writes Penn's name quickly on the envelope. Edit
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Notes
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Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Penn: And there's an odd irony! The very AA meetings that work to free you from your timewasting compulsion can become...A NEW KIND of timewasting compulsion! Edit
- Penn: AA was started in 1935, and the treatment has remained the same since then. Now, if alcoholism is in fact a disease, would treatment be the same today as it was three score, nine years ago? If your doctor told you he was gonna treat your cancer with the same method that was used in 1935, you'd SCREAM and RUN! Real science is refined and changed all the time. Now, maybe we're being too harsh. There are two reasons it might not have changed since 1935. Number one, it's a religion. And religion change is tantamount to heresy. It's faith, it's not supposed to be tested by science. Or number two, the treatment works, infallibly. For everyone, all the time. Hmm. I wonder which it is? Edit
- Penn: ...Gary Busey disagrees. Busey: You do have a choice. To make the right choice. And you do have a choice to make the wrong choice. But those places show you where the wrong choices will take you as you have learned by making the wrong choice in your choicemaking. Penn: Or...at least we think he disagrees. Edit
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