Is Drug addiction a Choice or a Disease??

[rdwire88]

Seems like this is becoming the lastest debated topic. Is drug addiction a choice or a disease?

The more and more I think about it, I think its more of a choice. I understand what may lead to drug use like depression/stress but those mental illnesses are separate from drug addiction illnesses.

Drug addiction itself is an illness/disease but was drug addiction illness present at conception? Could be if you were born with it..right? Your mom could have been taking "Name of drug" and the baby could be born with this drug addiction illness because of the mother. At the same time, if the mother did not make the "choice" of consuming drugs, then the baby wouldn't have been born with this horrible illness.

To me, it seems like most people who do drugs agree that it's an illness rather than a choice. Is it because it helps them believe and shield out the fact their actual poor choice led them to where they are at with drug abuse? So they blame it on this disease so it isn't "their fault"...

Sober society claims its a choice because the drug addiction isn't current if the individual simply doesn't consume drugs.

So, my final statement is drug addiction is a disease/illness post-consume but it's a choice to consume. The end result, it's a choice.

Misc,

Give me your thoughts..

[Kormo]

I'm what you call a compatibilist

[GravityLee]

I agree with most of what youre saying.

Some of it is society failing the most vulnerable members. On my best friends couch right now is a guy we have known a few years. His mom was murdered in front of him when he was a child. He lost his job, lost his apt, no ambition. Hes not an addict yet but he does a lot of stuff. Imo the gov should pay for his psychiatric treatment. I consider myself a conservative but we have a duty to help people going through hell on this life through no fault of their own. There was a comment i believe midcoastking said. Someone was bei g critical of the homeless implying its 100% their fault and he essentially responded with you cant expect everyone to just pick themselves up by their boot straps. Its the only time i have seen sympathy from him on this forum and i respect that.

Two of my best friends overdosed. One his mom died of drug addiction when he was a child. The other her dad sexually abused her and broke her arm when she was 3. Every man or woman must own their life. Yes you can choose not to do drugs. I just wish we could help people suffering more.

[PenorBrahNoHomo]

It's a choice. Nothing compels you to get high again and again, you have free will, you do it because you want and choose to. Giving up might be difficult and painful, but you can always choose to do so if you want to.

Inb4 rustled 'addicts'.

[devin45k]

It can be both but I dont have sympathy for people that cant handle any sort of addiction. I am talking about being addicted to anything like even social media. There is a point were you just mentally have to be strong and quit.

[anonymous]

Choice.

That's why people like myself can get really f****d up on weekends, Tony Montana style plus booze, cigarettes but not even touch a cigarette, drink or drugs monday-friday.

[bristol83]

Taking drugs in the first place is a choice, 100%.

Once addicted to drugs (having made the choice to take them in the first place, knowing full well the risks) then in some circumstances it can become an illness that they cant escape, despite wanting to make the choice to stop.

[sweetneybrian]

It's a choice. Nothing compels you to get high again and again, you have free will, you do it because you want and choose to. Giving up might be difficult and painful, but you can always choose to do so if you want to.

Inb4 rustled 'addicts'.

/thread

[EgoActor]

the drugs degrade health so much that it becomes a disease. it takes willpower to dig out of the hole by eating well, abstaining and having a proper sleep schedule.

it's always a choice

[ssilv]

Drug addiction is mental weakness, but our doctors are also to blame for prescribing opiates that block pain but also chemically change someone's brain and their needs.

Everyone should just smoke green.

[rdwire88]

It's like saying its the alcohol's fault you have a DUI and a hangover.

No sweetheart, it's self-inflicted.

[screwnuts]

It's a choice just like any other addiction.

Fatties, whores, drunks, junkies, etc aren't victims of anything other than their own poor impulse control.

It's funny how nobody has any sympathy for smokers or alcoholics, but junkies are suffering from a "disease."

[Kormo]

paying devils advocate here but to someone who has been abused, wouldn't it be fair to say that their choices aren't entirely voluntary? Inb4 cope, inb4 i was abused and i chose right

[ButcherSir]

care bro. i just said a name of a drug as a joke and mods sent me to band camp..
anyway - it can be both.

[midcoastking33]

that's like saying lung cancer is a choice, not a disease lol. take fault/agency out of the equation- alcohol addiction is so severe that withdrawals can lead to death. that's clearly in the realm of disease

[rdwire88]

paying devils advocate here but to someone who has been abused, wouldn't it be fair to say that their choices aren't entirely voluntary? Inb4 cope, inb4 i was abused and i chose right

Anxiety, depression, bi-polar, stress, etc are all illness separate from drugs. There are other alternatives to drug abuse.

[reverse79]

choice when started

addiction once abused due to the mind/body reaction

[rdwire88]

care bro. i just said a name of a drug as a joke and mods sent me to band camp..
anyway - it can be both.

I'll keep that in mind thank you..

I'm sure a mod will warn me before a ban though. Thanks for the heads up and I'll avoid drug naming on the misc.

[Kormo]

Anxiety, depression, bi-polar, stress, etc are all illness separate from drugs. There are other alternatives to drug abuse.

Did you choose to be born?

















checkmate m8

[midcoastking33]

Anxiety, depression, bi-polar, stress, etc are all illness separate from drugs. There are other alternatives to drug abuse.

what is your point? again fault has nothing to do with classification of disease. i'll take the medical community over some miscer arguing purely in bad faith to prop up their own life

[300BLK]

It comes from a lack of willpower that can be influenced by an illness or disease

[rdwire88]

what is your point? again fault has nothing to do with classification of disease. i'll take the medical community over some miscer arguing purely in bad faith to prop up their own life

I know that, Brenda.

Listen, I said drug addiction is a illness but Choice comes before this particular illness. Go read any article then and quit reading a post on the misc. No one here is making you stay.

[peterplsss]

It's a choice that turns into a disease. It's your choice to do it the first few times. Don't do that chit even once and you'll never catch the disease.

[Maylie]

It's a choice.

My uncle has been an addict for 20 years. He's stolen money from my grandmother, mother and aunt. He has had his rehab paid for numerous times, only to crap out or look for ways to scam the system.

He continues to make the choice to get high and he continues to put himself in situations where he is likely to succumb to temptation and get high.

I am sure at this point his brain chemistry is probably destroyed.

But again, that wasn't faulty DNA or a random tragedy. It was a choice. He is sick but he did it to himself.

[esmile]

Tbh I think it’s an illness. Not sure why people get so rustled and say it’s not. Only time it’s a choice is the times using it before getting addicted.

[rdwire88]

It's a choice.

My uncle has been an addict for 20 years. He's stolen money from my grandmother, mother and aunt. He has had his rehab paid for numerous times, only to crap out or look for ways to scam the system.

He continues to make the choice to get high and he continues to put himself in situations where he is likely to succumb to temptation and get high.

I am sure at this point his brain chemistry is probably destroyed.

But again, that wasn't faulty DNA or a random tragedy. It was a choice. He is sick but he did it to himself.

Sad story man..

Any choice we make in life could greatly affect ourselves and others around us. Is someone going to blame drug addiction illness if they rob someone? no lol..

Thanks for sharing..

[Griggz]

It's a choice that turns into a disease. It's your choice to do it the first few times. Don't do that chit even once and you'll never catch the disease.

This is 100% correct. You guys saying its 100% choice need to look at the chemical rewiring that happens in you after you're on something for a while.


I still have no sympathy for addicts because it does start with a choice.

[BustaCapp]

Is there such a thing as free will?

Who is responsible for the thoughts that arrive in our heads?

[Seatard]

paying devils advocate here but to someone who has been abused, wouldn't it be fair to say that their choices aren't entirely voluntary? Inb4 cope, inb4 i was abused and i chose right

Holy chit that it would be Kormo who recognizes that drug addiction is not an either/or question but incredibly complicated and includes genetic and environmental factors along with making choices.

[SteadyWayfarer]

This makes you question if anything is ultimately a choice, or do are previous experiences, environment, upbringing, etc. pretty much make the choices for us. We don't choose what thoughts pop into our heads.

I feel like regarding drug addiction it is mostly a choice, although influenced by all the factors I've mentioned prior. But once the addiction is in place, the brain basically cements the idea that the drug/substance is needed in order to live. In the deepest clutches of addiction, I have a hard time believing there is much choice, autonomy, control, being exercised, as it's kind of like they go into an auto-pilot mode to acquire their high/buzz throughout the days and weeks.