There are plenty of ideas and stigmas about addiction that has been circulating around for years, though there are many things that a lot of people might not know or understand. Here are some of those facts.
“Non-addictive” Drugs Can Be Addictive
There are a lot of people out there who shrug off the harm that “non-addictive” drugs such as marijuana and LSD can do. People think that those drugs are “non-addictive,” just because they don’t cause physical addictions like crack, meth, heroin, and opiates. However, there is such a thing as psychological addiction. Physiological addiction is when your body is not addicted to a drug, but your mind is.
People Can Be Addicted to Things That Aren’t Drugs
Usually, when the word “addiction” is used, it usually refers to drug addictions. People recognize the word “addiction” as something that refers to drugs. However, people can have addictions to any substance or activity. There are eating addictions, sex addictions, porn addictions, cigarette addictions, shopping addictions, coffee addictions, video game addictions, hoarding addictions and other types of addictions.
There Are A Lot of Reasons Why People Have Drug Addictions
People have drug addictions as a result of many different, complexes, interconnecting circumstances, and there are different stories behind why people have their addictions. Society puts a stigma upon drug addicts as subhuman, degenerated creatures who “like to get high.” Why a person tries drugs, does drugs and/or has a drug addiction is more complex than “liking to get high.” Some people do drugs out of peer pressure or because it has been normalized and suggested to them by the behavior of their loved ones. Some people are in very desperate, depressed and/or reckless states of mind where they are apt to try drugs and/or keep up an addiction. There may be some people who really did start doing drugs because they “liked getting high.” However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are less human or not good people, even if some individual drug users are known to resort to the lowest types of behavior to get their fix. This leads us to the next point.
Not All Drug Addicts Are Bad People, And There Are No “Stereotypes”
As stated above, there is this stigma that dehumanizes drug addicts. According to this stigma, drug addicts are not people—they are dirty, untrustworthy, of low morals and not nice. First off, drug addicts are human beings. It is true that drugs do drive some individuals to do negative things that they would otherwise not do if they were not on drugs. However, people have different personalities, and drug users are people’s children, grandchildren, parents, siblings and friends. Drug addicts exist on all levels of society. There are a lot of people who are drug addicts who come off as being very neat, clean, mild-mannered, educated and affluent. You might see people in drug addiction treatment and rehab centers of different socioeconomic classes, genders, cultural groups and ages. Anybody can have an addiction, and anyone can attend a drug addiction treatment and rehab center.
Addiction is a Disease Interestingly
Addiction is considered to be a disease. Technically, this is actually correct because addiction deals with the inner workings of the human body. It is considered to be on the same level as chronic conditions such as cancer, HIV, diabetes and heart disease.