Addiction: Disease or Choice? The answer is rather simple; Who the hell cares?

In my opinion, addiction is more of a mental illness, but when you say it doesn't equate to cancer or other life-threatening diseases, you're wrong. Just ask a loved one to an addict. However, I do understand how easy it would be to say "go to a cancer ward then tell me addiction is a disease" if you didn't spend the majority of your childhood watching your parent pass out drunk before sunset each day, if you've never had a person you love beg you to be their enabler, or if you've never had to stand by while one of the people you love most in the world suffers through withdrawals.

I understand your way of thinking. I really do, but in a way, it hurts more because we know they chose it. They chose it over their wellbeing. They chose it over ours. That is indeed the one thing you are right about. Initially, they chose to do the drugs — whatever drugs it may be — but it doesn't hurt any less to the loved ones who have to watch them die a slow, miserable death. The fact that the addict chose to do the drugs doesn't stop their loved ones from fearing that each goodbye could be their last. Overdose is so easily accidental.

But really, as I asked before, who the hell cares if addiction is a disease or a choice when there's 23.5 million Americans addicted to drugs and alcohol. Instead of arguing of worthless, irrelevant opinions, why don't we reach out to these people and their loved ones? Roughly 11 percent of addicts receive treatment, and the world's argument of "disease vs. choice" might have something to do with that. Whatever your opinion, hopefully, we can all agree that these people (23.5 million people) need help and not ridicule.

This isn't a story that I'd normally share with the world, but with the newfound attention that addiction is getting, I find it necessary.

In 1994, my father lost his brother unexpectedly. My uncle has been more of a father figure to my dad because my grandfather passed away when my dad was a child. Like so many of us, my father did not know how to cope with the loss of his brother and best friend, so he bought a case of beer. We've all seen the quote "We're all addicted to something that takes the pain away." (It's easy to romanticize addiction when you aren't actually addicted to anything harmful...). My father needed something to take the pain away, and because he had never dealt with anything similar to this before, he made the wrong decision. I was 16 months old at the time of my uncle's passing, and my father drank himself to sleep every night for 10 years after. He always promised me that once he turned 40, he'd 'put the bottle down.' Of course, I was the only person who believed him. I put all of my faith in him and he came through. His 40th birthday came, and he hasn't had a drink since. My dad didn't go to rehab. He hasn't relapsed, but it isn't that easy for everyone. Some people are more strong willed than others. That is why help should be offered, instead of degrading arguments about whether they brought their suffering upon themselves.

5 years later, my mother went to what was supposed to be a routine checkup. It was anything but routine. She had an emergency, triple bypass open-heart surgery. She had smoked an increasing amount of cigarettes each day for longer than I could remember, and the artery in her heart commonly referred to as the 'widowmaker' was 97% blocked. We were lucky she was with us at all. A team of doctors sat with us and told us that if she continued smoking, 5 years would be considered a long life for her. That was all she needed to hear. She hasn't touched a cigarette in 9 years, and not once have we told her that she was in that awful position because of her choices.

If you feel like those are 'easy' addictions to kick or you think they didn't suffer enough, there's more...and I can't go into extreme detail because I don't want to remember, but I can't forget.

I've watched my father, the same man that beat alcoholism on a promise to a 10-year-old, fall to his knees in tears and insufferable pain due to opioid withdrawals. I've seen him vomit on the floor because he couldn't make it to a bathroom because of opioid withdrawals. I've watched him lie in bed drowning in his own sweat because of prescription pain medication. He DID NOT choose to become addicted to a medication that his doctor prescribed him. His body did that on its own, without consultation and without abusing the medication. My father needed that medication, and it nearly consumed him. Obviously, opioid addiction wasn't as 'easy' a fix as a smoking habit or alcoholism, but instead of saying to him "This is your fault. You put yourself here with your choices," we helped him...

Before any of you worry about my childhood, know that I have two of the most amazing parents that this world has to offer, and my sister and I have no genetic inclinations to any addiction.

So yeah, maybe addiction isn't a disease in the same way that cancer is. Maybe addiction is a choice, but don't you dare downplay the hurt and suffering of an addict and their loved ones. It's pure hell to love an addict and pure heaven to seem them overcome it.

Addiction: Disease or Choice?

WHO THE HELL CARES? HELP ADDICTS. LOVE ADDICTS. SUPPORT ADDICTS IN THEIR FIGHT TO OVERCOME WHATEVER THEY ARE ADDICTED TO. STOP QUESTIONING WHETHER ADDICTION IS A DISEASE OR A CHOICE. OUR OPINIONS ON THE MATTER ARE IRRELEVANT TO THEIR RECOVERY.