Hello?

Hey, Katie, it's Heaton.

I think I drink too much.

Can you write a book to fix me?

Yeah, I can do that.

Hello, and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for plucky misfits and problem solvers.

I'm your host, Andrew Heath.

Can I be honest with you?

I could write an intro about how addiction is political, something about the amount of money.

The United States spends every year treating alcohol abuse disorder, the loss of productivity,

the effect on families.

It is a big societal issue, which is germane to the thinky big picture stuff of this program.

But honestly, we're doing today's episode for two reasons, both of which are entirely selfish.

First, I am a fan of today's guest, Katie Herzog.

She's a really fascinating, fun commentator that I've been following for a number of years,

and her book on alcoholism was a

great pretext to bring her on the program and trick her into becoming friends with me.

Next, I spent 24 dead, clean, sober, for a lot of reasons.

Someone in my family is a recovering alcoholic and if you've ever

lived through that sort of thing and you've been a part of that sad little fraternity,

you also look at your own relationship with alcohol. And I decided, while I am not a full-blown

alcoholic, I'm not driving my car into Chappaquitic or anything,

...