Heated Debate On Addiction
This just really chapped my ass this morning.
On Good Morning America today, they had an expert that is trying to make a point that addiction is a disease that has something to do with the brain. My roommate agreed. I do not.
Here’s my thinking:
I consider a disease to be something that perpetually attacks the body. There may or may not be a cure. Certain conditions may contribute to a disease developing. There is nothing voluntary about disease.
I believe addiction is different. To me addiction is self chosen and not a mental disease. I believe it has to do with self control and strong will. I have addictions – ciggies, sleeping aids, chocolate and on occasion I do like to gamble and I usually go a little nutty when I do. I smoke because I like it, I eat chocolate because it tastes good, sleeping aids help me to sleep better and gambling is fun to me - I am highly competitive (not a disease). There is a cure for these things. Don’t buy ciggies, eat fruit instead, drink chamomile tea and keep your money in the bank. These are not medical miracles, but just common sense. Had I never picked up a ciggy, I would not be addicted to them. I chose to do so. I do not consider my addiction to be a disease. I don’t like it that I am addicted, but it is my own damn fault.
If people have Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease or Small Pox, they are truly afflicted by disease. If you are addicted to cocaine, you are afflicted by inner demons and the desire to obtain the high cocaine gives you.
People who smoke have a good chance of getting cancer and people who drink have a good chance their liver is gonna be jacked up. You know these things but you do them anyway, and not because you are diseased. Doing these things while knowing the risks may make you stupid, but stupidity is not a disease either.
My Uncle Butch smoked cigars daily, dipped, ran moonshine during prohibition and therefore drank the liquid fire on many occasions during his lifetime, however, when he died in his sleep at 88, he had no cancer and no cirrhosis found in his body. There are people who have never taken a drag of a ciggy that may develop and even die from cancer. Not all addictions lead to disease and not all disease is caused from addiction.
Now, I am not unsympathetic toward addicts. I am not saying in the least that if your addictions caused a disease, then you got what you deserved. I am all for people being as happy and healthy and as far from death and pain as possible. I just find it hard to justify saying a heroine junkie has a disease of the brain and that is why he is addicted to heroine. People with Alzheimer’s have a disease of the brain and believe me, they knowingly did nothing to develop or contribute to that disease.
I strongly feel there is a big difference between dependency and disease & conditions and disease. You can kick dependency. It won’t be easy, but it is doable. If you become addicted to painkillers, your body becomes conditioned to them, but it is not a disease in my opinion. You can get that out of your system. You may remember how great you felt while taking them, and you may miss it, but you are not diseased. It will totally suck, but you can do it. There are people that want more than anything to get The Big C (cancer) out of their body and they can’t because IT’S A DISEASE; they are not addicted to cancer.
There is also a difference between mental conditions and diseases of the brain. If your brain is not physically developed or there is physical evidence of some sort of chemical imbalance or a tumor of some kind, then you may very well have a disease. If your thinking is just f’ed up, then you have a condition or you are just not right in the head and that does not necessarily mean you are diseased.
I may be right and I may be wrong. I may just be a hard ass. But I think if you have an addiction, you should take full responsibility for it and not put it off as disease when there are people out there truly suffering from disease. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, i.e. crack babies that are born addicted. They are not diseased though, they are addicted. It is not their choice and therefore, should not have to take responsibility for it. Later in life when they are 30, if they become a user, then that is what they have chosen to do and then should take responsibility for their addiction and not blame it on disease or even their crack addict mothers 31 years prior.
I could go on but I won’t. I am just all over the place on this one at a million miles an hour, but it all leads to the same conclusion: addiction is not disease. It is closer to weakness than disease.
That’s all I have to say about that unless someone has something to contribute.
Here’s my thinking:
I consider a disease to be something that perpetually attacks the body. There may or may not be a cure. Certain conditions may contribute to a disease developing. There is nothing voluntary about disease.
I believe addiction is different. To me addiction is self chosen and not a mental disease. I believe it has to do with self control and strong will. I have addictions – ciggies, sleeping aids, chocolate and on occasion I do like to gamble and I usually go a little nutty when I do. I smoke because I like it, I eat chocolate because it tastes good, sleeping aids help me to sleep better and gambling is fun to me - I am highly competitive (not a disease). There is a cure for these things. Don’t buy ciggies, eat fruit instead, drink chamomile tea and keep your money in the bank. These are not medical miracles, but just common sense. Had I never picked up a ciggy, I would not be addicted to them. I chose to do so. I do not consider my addiction to be a disease. I don’t like it that I am addicted, but it is my own damn fault.
If people have Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease or Small Pox, they are truly afflicted by disease. If you are addicted to cocaine, you are afflicted by inner demons and the desire to obtain the high cocaine gives you.
People who smoke have a good chance of getting cancer and people who drink have a good chance their liver is gonna be jacked up. You know these things but you do them anyway, and not because you are diseased. Doing these things while knowing the risks may make you stupid, but stupidity is not a disease either.
My Uncle Butch smoked cigars daily, dipped, ran moonshine during prohibition and therefore drank the liquid fire on many occasions during his lifetime, however, when he died in his sleep at 88, he had no cancer and no cirrhosis found in his body. There are people who have never taken a drag of a ciggy that may develop and even die from cancer. Not all addictions lead to disease and not all disease is caused from addiction.
Now, I am not unsympathetic toward addicts. I am not saying in the least that if your addictions caused a disease, then you got what you deserved. I am all for people being as happy and healthy and as far from death and pain as possible. I just find it hard to justify saying a heroine junkie has a disease of the brain and that is why he is addicted to heroine. People with Alzheimer’s have a disease of the brain and believe me, they knowingly did nothing to develop or contribute to that disease.
I strongly feel there is a big difference between dependency and disease & conditions and disease. You can kick dependency. It won’t be easy, but it is doable. If you become addicted to painkillers, your body becomes conditioned to them, but it is not a disease in my opinion. You can get that out of your system. You may remember how great you felt while taking them, and you may miss it, but you are not diseased. It will totally suck, but you can do it. There are people that want more than anything to get The Big C (cancer) out of their body and they can’t because IT’S A DISEASE; they are not addicted to cancer.
There is also a difference between mental conditions and diseases of the brain. If your brain is not physically developed or there is physical evidence of some sort of chemical imbalance or a tumor of some kind, then you may very well have a disease. If your thinking is just f’ed up, then you have a condition or you are just not right in the head and that does not necessarily mean you are diseased.
I may be right and I may be wrong. I may just be a hard ass. But I think if you have an addiction, you should take full responsibility for it and not put it off as disease when there are people out there truly suffering from disease. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, i.e. crack babies that are born addicted. They are not diseased though, they are addicted. It is not their choice and therefore, should not have to take responsibility for it. Later in life when they are 30, if they become a user, then that is what they have chosen to do and then should take responsibility for their addiction and not blame it on disease or even their crack addict mothers 31 years prior.
I could go on but I won’t. I am just all over the place on this one at a million miles an hour, but it all leads to the same conclusion: addiction is not disease. It is closer to weakness than disease.
That’s all I have to say about that unless someone has something to contribute.
posted by Wigwam at 11:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home