Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jan 2012
Source: Lancet, The (UK)
Copyright: 2012 The Lancet Ltd
Contact:  http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/231
Author: Denna Jones
Note: Volume 379, Issue 9810, Page 20, 7 January 2012

CREATIVELY CONFRONTING ADDICTION

We are all at risk of addiction.

Vices are endemic to the human condition and each of us has the 
potential to become an addict.

Scare statements? Not at the Museo Interactivo Sobre Las Adicciones 
(aka MIA) in CuliacA!n, Mexico. MIA is a unique interactive games and 
exhibit-based addiction museum""narcotics feature, but so too do 
alcohol, tobacco, food, gambling, and internet addictions. MIA 
broadcasts a strong message: addictions are pandemic and they are global.

"Addiction is a disease not a choice" , Nora Volkow, Director of the 
US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), says as she speaks with 
me on the phone from her office in Rockville, MD. Volkow was 
influential in the American Society of Addiction Medicine's 
redefinition of addiction as a primary, chronic neurological disease, 
and she and her team advised on MIA's content, together with other 
experts from Mexico and Europe. "Blunted pathways and fewer D2 
dopamine receptors mean addicts find it harder and harder to feel 
good" , she explains. "Even people with no baseline genetic risk can 
become addicts if their environment is stressful.

Social factors are extremely important in addiction" , she says 
emphatically. Relentless or unavoidable social pressures are issues 
that have been incorporated into the MIA experiential spaces, and the 
result is a series of exhibits aimed at MIA's target audience of 
young people aged 9-17 years.

MIA's educational objectives are even more remarkable given its 
infamous locale: drug traffickers are known to operate in CuliacA!n 
and the city has its own distinct "oenarcocultura" .

The immersive and interactive MIA experience is intended to be "a fun 
environment with a serious purpose, enjoyment but with real feedback" 
, says Alex McCuaig, Chairman of MET Studio, which helped create the 
museum interiors and exhibition design.

It's "not overtly didactic"  he adds, "but gives visitors experiences 
they can relate to" . More than 50 CuliA!canenses were interviewed, 
including addicts, police officers, social workers, psychologists, 
teachers, residents, families, and schoolchildren, and their stories 
form the foundation for many of the exhibits.

Facts, life lessons, communication, and health are four key areas 
throughout the museum and these focal points are realised through 
games and experiences. Health Action, for example, lets visitors do 
popular CuliacA!nense activities like horse riding, dancing, boxing, 
baseball, and cycling via computer simulations, and promotes the idea 
of finding excitement in physical activity.

Immersive journeys take visitors through distorting addictive 
environments, which are initially fun and exciting but descend into 
darker experiences. The Interactive Classroom gives student groups 
the opportunity to interact with a bespoke movie about a day in the 
life of three local high school students and the influence of 
addiction in the world around them.

MIA creatively confronts addiction by educating visitors through 
local stories and experiences. MIA is "honest"  McCuaig says, "it 
doesn't shy away from highlighting failings of local society and 
government but it does so in a way that is palatable" . Volkow adds 
that MIA offers "a choice for life" . "Education was the most 
important thing in my family" , she remembers, and the museum 
"creates a buffer"  for those young people who may not have an 
educational home environment. "People don't choose addiction" , says 
Volkow, and healthy environments and educational support systems must 
be prioritised. Hopefully, the museum will play its part in this task 
by offering an experience that is fun, educational, and unforgettable.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart