In the second episode of Ripped From the Wall’s latest investigative series, Verónica Del Valle and Ethan Lipka dive into the science of addiction and substance misuse. Upon discovering the fact that American University’s substance abuse rates are higher than the national average, according to information on marijuana usage and alcohol usage provided by the university’s Health Promotion and Advocacy Center. The podcast team began researching the university’s response to the issue.

Over the course of one semester, Ripped from the Wall has investigated substance abuse at AU in order to better understand the issue and the university’s response to it. This was done in a three-part series, with the second episode focusing on the science behind substance abuse and the third episode involving a conversation with different members of the university administration about their policies and resources.

Thank you to the amazing Timothy Madden for editing this podcast.