dr. david kessler. [applause] >> thank you, monica, and thanks to book passage, one of our favorite bookstores, and thank you all for coming out this evening. this journey, the journey that led to "capture," began about 25 years ago for me. i'm at fda, we began the investigation into the tobacco industry, and i had to learn everything i could about nicotine. and i became very interested why somebody would pick up a cigarette, smoke one and then 780,000ing more over a lifetime. so i had to learn everything i could about nicotine, about addiction. then i became very interested in overeating and trying to understand why that chocolate chip cookie has such power over me. the mechanism in both seemed to me to be somewhat similar. a stimulus hijacks our attention based on past learning and past memory. this is this arousal, this increased attention. there's these thoughts of wanting. i eat the cookie, i have this momentary bliss. nothing else is getting through in my brain. two minutes later, i go why did i d

dr. david kessler who ran the f.d.a. from 1990 to 1997 doesn't hold back when talking about the explosion in opioid use in the last two decades. who is to blame? >> the f.d.a. has responsibility. the pharmaceutical companies have responsibility. physicians have responsibility. we didn't see these drugs for what they truly are. >> reporter: from 1999 to 2014, sales of opioids qoopled in the u.s., and so did the number of opioid-related overdose deaths. >> there was a notion that pain was the fifth vital sign, that you wanted to relieve pain, that that was essential. we dosed until the payne was alleviated. >> reporter: that, says kessler, was a costly mistake. 78 people now die each day from overdosing on painkillers, but the c.d.c. didn't issue prescription guidelines until this past march. recommending doctors try ov-the-counter pain meds before prescribing more limited quantities of opioids, but not mandating they do so. given the fact that thisou are these guidelines strong enough? >> we'll see. this is an american co

dr. david kessler who ran the fda from 1990 to 1997 doesn't hold back when talking about the explosion in opioid use in the last two decades. >> who is to blame? >> fda has responsibility, pharmaceutical companies have responsibility, physicians have responsibility. we didn't see these drugs for what they truly are. >> from 1999 to 2014, sales of opioids quadrupled in the u.s. and so did the number of opioid related deaths. >> there was the notion that pain was the fifth vital sign. that you wanted to relieve pain. that was essential. dosed until the pain was alleviated. >> that says kessler was a costly mistake. 78 people now die each day from overdosing on painkillers. but the cdc didn't issue prescription guidelines until this past march. recommending doctors try over the counter pain meds before prescribing limited quantities of opioids but not mandating they do so. >> given the fact that this country is in the middle of a crisis, are these guidelines strong enough? >> we'll see. >> this is an american condition. this is an american disease. >> in the 21 years since oxy contin came on

dr. david kessler and his new book, "capture: unraveling the mystery of mental suffering." why do we think, feel and act in ways we wish we did not? in his new book, our author explores this question.