Unless you have been living under a rock these past few weeks, people are stating their opinions on addiction on social media and it has caused a huge controversy. Some people say it is a choice while others say it is a disease...I am here to give personal experiences and testimonial facts as to why it is both.
As a child brought up in a split home I have also had my fair share of addiction. My mother at some point tried drugs and she liked them so she moved away to Georgia to be with her boyfriend whom also did the same drugs.
I have held so much resentment towards her because to me she chose drugs over me and my sister, but as i grow older and wiser i realize that drug addiction does indeed start as a choice but it quickly changes into something you cannot help.
Now, I'm not making any excuse for her in any way because she still chose to do that drug and that tore us up as a family. I have also witnessed alcoholism, it is, absolutely no different than heroin or cocaine. People try it, like it, and their brain tells them they need it. I also want to throw the fact that even though I've been going through this my whole life, I've have not ever been not loved.
With all this being said, a disease is something sort of a virus... you can't try to cure it but it has to find it's way out and unfortunately most drugs restrict the brain from allowing that. I know you all are quick to judge others who seem worse off than you, but that lie you told your professor so you could make-up a test this morning is just as bad as someone doing cocaine in the bathroom next to you. And that Saturday night you got slap-faced drunk?
Yeah, that's equivalent to someone shooting up at home in their room because they're so depressed they wanna die. So, what I NEVER want to hear again is that addiction is purely a choice because as much as we love to blame people we can't help how our body reacts to certain things.
Did you know that 1 in 6 Americans struggles with a drug addiction? sucks, right? your friend that you thought had it all together and always seems bubbly in public has an addiction to self- harm. But you would never know, right? depression is REAL and unfortunately, that's the main cause of addiction.
Whether it be a drug addiction or self-harm addiction. It's all a disease, you cannot help depression. Did you know that some drug addicts are born as drug addicts, and even though they get treated as a child they almost all relapse between the ages 15-25? crazy right...
With all this being said, next time you make a post about addiction think about how you could help them rather than hurt them. Because trust me, I have had my fair share of having hatred towards drug addicts but after some deep prayer and talking with others about it I have done my research and I stand my ground on how addiction is both a choice and disease.
