CNN’s Mark Whitaker announces new In Depth series on addiction

Mark Whitaker, executive vice president and managing editor of CNN Worldwide, launches a new weeklong In Depth series on addiction with cross-platform pieces on the fight against the deadly disease.

In Depth: Fighting the scourge of addiction

•  Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will examine the latest breakthroughs in the brain science and biology of addiction and how they have given rise to promising new anti-substance abuse drugs on Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien and CNN Newsroom.

• Dr. Drew Pinsky will share his wisdom about the keys to beating addiction on his own prime-time show on HLN.

• TV sports anchor Pat O’Brien sits down with Piers Morgan, and ex-NBA great Chris Herren talks to Brooke Baldwin to discuss how they turned their lives around.

• CNN will also air a series of stories about the fastest growing form of addiction in America: prescription drugs. As Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports, the U.S. military this month announced it would start testing troops for hydrocodone (the base of Vicodin) and benzodiazepine, the key ingredient in Valium.