Addiction

I realize many people's opinions, and perhaps even medical findings, may disagree with what I am about to say, but I get really annoyed when addiction is called a 'disease.'  Calling addiction a disease is a slap in the face to those with 'real' diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, ALS, and so forth. Persons struck with such horrible health conditions cannot simply stop their disease by using will power. They can take their medicine, keep a positive outlook, pray, and hope for the best. Someone who drinks excessively or abuses drugs, well, all that person has to do is stop.

I do not dispute that over consumption of alcohol and drugs can wreak havoc on the body. Many alcoholics get liver disease, smokers get lung cancer, and people die of overdoses far too often. It's a sad state of affairs that destroys many lives; the lives of the abuser, as well as the lives of those who love him and are often helpless to intervene. I also realize that when the body has been supplied a substance for over a long period of time, it will grow accustomed to it, and if the supply of that substance ceases, the body will react and go into a withdrawal state. The withdrawal state can last a while and the abuser must learn to live his life without taking drugs anymore. A lot of therapy is involved. Unlike someone with cancer, diabetes, and so forth, this is where it ends, or should end. The body can survive without the harmful drugs the abuser had been ingesting, and perform even better without them. If addiction is a disease, why is it treated behaviorally? Why does the addict require psychotherapy? If he had a real disease, why can't he just take a pill? Undergo chemotherapy? Some so-called specialists argue that people are born with an addiction gene, and that it's not their fault they suffer from this 'disease.' Suppose someone with this alleged addictive gene were born on a deserted island, with only fish to eat and coconut water to drink? How would he feed this addiction that wasn't his fault? How would he ever know he had it?

I have known a few addicts in my time and they shared the same characteristic - they wanted to escape when the real world was too much for them to handle. They live hedonistic lifestyles and have no regard for the welfare of others when it comes to getting their hands on their drug of choice. They will lie, cheat, and steal to get it.

I have diabetes and chronic pain with the accompanying neuropathy. I wish I could just stop, but that's not an option for me. I have a disease and I can't just say no.