The South Carolina Supreme Court just ordered a retrial in the Alex Murdaugh case — and the opioid defense his attorneys raised is about to get a second look.

To be precise: the defense never claimed opioids made Murdaugh kill his wife and son. They claimed opioids made him lie to police in the aftermath. That’s a narrower argument, but from an addiction science standpoint, it’s actually the more interesting one — and the one that tends to get flattened in media coverage.

Can a decade-long opioid addiction impair the way someone processes and responds to acute stress? Can it distort judgment, emotional regulation, and self-protective behavior in the hours after trauma — even without intoxication in that moment? These are real clinical questions, and the answers are more complicated than either side in that courtroom wants them to be.

In this episode, I walk through Murdaugh’s psychological profile from an addiction and forensic psychology lens: his self-reported opioid use, what we know about how chronic opioid dependence affects the brain’s decision-making and stress response systems, and what the science can and cannot support when it comes to culpability claims like this one.

This is the kind of case that forces a harder question: as our understanding of addiction deepens, how do we think about responsibility — and what do we owe to that complexity inside a courtroom?

Episode 56 is out now. Watch the full episode here:

👋 ABOUT DR. SUZETTE GLASNER Dr. Suzette Glasner is an addiction scientist and clinical psychologist. The Dr. Suzette Glasner Podcast brings evidence-based conversations on addiction, recovery, and mental health to people who want the science alongside the story.📩 Questions or topic suggestions: AskDrGlasner@gmail.com 🔔 Subscribe for evidence-based mental health and addiction content.