There’s a top article swirling around the Odyssey, and I decided that maybe it was also my turn to write out a reply to the most widely debated topic yet: ‘https://www.theodysseyonline.com/stop-calling-drug-addiction-disease’

I’ve recently sat and read over this article as well as I have sat and read over every other article written by people who recorded being ‘appalled’ and ‘outraged’ by such an egregious article. What I respect is the fact that everyone stated that they accept the opinions of other people, which is a good thing. I wanted to see it from every possible angle, which is why I sat and thought it over the topic for a few days. The article itself is not entirely wrong, certainly it is a disease, but the author Brianna Lyman isn’t wrong also.

To knowingly pick up a drug that could possibly get you addicted leaves it as your own fault.

My only issue with all the articles replying to the original must simply be the fact that the blame has been primarily removed from the addict. Which it is your own fault- be it by peer pressure, past trauma, or anything else. The only time it is not the addict's fault is when the drug is physically forced into the addict's body. Otherwise it’s nobody else’s fault that you picked up the drug. There are several different websites and informational programs that advise people off of drugs, as well as there are other options to getting help for whatever mental problems you happen to be going through. Yes, it is a technical disease, because your brain will tell you that you crave it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t strictly the addict’s fault for lifting up the drug in the first place. If you make the conscious decision to take a drug, knowing full well that you will get addicted and catch the disease then it’s nobody else’s fault. The same applies for criminals, if you knowingly pick up a gun and rob a place you will suffer your consequences.

That isn’t to say that addict’s are suddenly filthy or deserve what’s coming to them, because really nobody deserves to be addicted to something so horrible. It spirals out of control and becomes less and less a choice and more and more a need that can’t be exterminated. We shouldn’t throw away the concept of social and educational assistance to the addict simply because it is their fault their addicted (in most cases), but we also shouldn’t pretend that it wasn’t their fault. Once it happens, ostracizing them won’t help in any sense, it’ll only make them turn to drugs more often.