Just like 48,000 other people on Facebook, I recently came across the Odyssey article, "Stop Calling Your Drug Addiction a Disease".While I can see where the author, Brianna Lyman, was coming from, as someone who has spent a fair amount of time with addicts and others with mental illnesses, I have to disagree with the her main point. Drug addiction, as well as other types of addiction, is a disease.

When you become addicted to a drug, it changes your brain chemistry, something the author did mention in her article, but I would like to explain it a bit further. Many addictive drugs such as cocaine release a chemical called dopamine, a "good feeling" hormone that our bodies produce naturally when we perform behaviors that are necessary for our survival (like eating or having sex). The body uses dopamine to reward itself for these behaviors, but releases a much lower amount of this chemical than most drugs provide. The first time you take a drug voluntarily, you experience this rush of dopamine, which makes you feel good, however, this good feeling is not what makes a drug addictive. What makes a drug addictive is the crash that you experience once the drug has left your system. Once your body experiences the elevated levels of dopamine produced by drugs, your brain begins to change in response to the hormone, making you feel as though you "need" the drug to survive. The more you take, the higher your tolerance for the effects of the drug gets, creating a need for higher doses of the drug to get the same effect. This is when overdoses happen, and that is why addictive drugs are so dangerous.

You may be asking yourself if drugs are so dangerous, why not just stop taking them? This is a fair question, and the answer lies with brain chemistry, rather than personality flaws. The hard thing about addiction is that not only does your body feel that it needs the drug to survive, but for those that do try to quit, not taking the drug can make you feel like you are dying. Those that stop taking drugs go through withdrawal, which often causes horrible symptoms that make it harder for people to quit. Withdrawal symptoms include restlessness, depression, hot and cold flashes, anxiety, and sometimes even seizures. These symptoms can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks, and there is often very little that can be done to ease the effects of withdrawal because addicts cannot be prescribed medication.

Although it is true that often the first time you take a drug it is voluntary, that doesn't make addiction any less serious or real than another disease. "Stop Calling Your Drug Addiction a Disease" compares drug addiction to cancer, claiming that because a drug addict's choices led them to where they are and a sick child's did not, that their addiction is not a real disease. But what about people who get lung cancer from smoking cigarettes? Their choices led them to where they are, so they must not have a disease. Or people who get melanoma from too much time in the sun without sunscreen. They definitely aren't sick right? The choices we make everyday can make us sick, anything from eating junk food to using drugs and alcohol is bad for us, but we still do it because we are human. If we based the definition of a disease on whether a person's actions lead to them getting sick, most of the people in this country with heart disease, diabetes, and even forms of cancer would not be considered as sufferers of a disease. Our mistakes should not define the treatment that we receive, nor how seriously people take our symptoms. Just because a drug addict may not struggle the same way a child with cancer does does not mean they do not suffer.

Most people who are addicted to drugs don't immediately go out and buy heroine, or snort some cocaine. The reality is that the majority of drug addicts in the U.S. are addicted to prescription drugs. 15 million Americans were addicted to prescription drugs in 2015, and of those drugs abused depressants and painkillers were the most common. These are drugs that have been prescribed by doctors for people who have been through surgery or have other serious conditions that require prescription opioids, and people use them because they believe that they are safe. These drugs are legal when prescribed by a doctor, and so most of us think they are good for us, or at the very least we think they won't harm us. And for most of us, they don't, however, for those predisposed to addiction, prescription drugs can cause a problem. Studies using identical and fraternal twins have shown that genetics play a large part in addiction, and some people are more susceptible to addiction than others. You are more likely to become addicted to a drug if you are closely related to another addict, and a 2008 study suggests that a certain dopamine receptor called D2 could play are large role in who becomes addicted to drugs. Environment also plays a role in addiction, and individuals who are exposed to drug abuse at home or school are more likely to abuse drugs themselves. Poor communities are also more susceptible to drug abuse, and are less likely to have access to treatment. Teenagers are vulnerable to abusing prescription drugs that they find at home because they believe that prescription drugs aren't as dangerous as illegal substances. After all, most school anti-drug lectures focus on the famous culprits like marijuana and cocaine, but fail to mention that the pills your mom takes to help her sleep can be just as dangerous, if not more so.

"Stop Calling Your Drug Addiction a Disease" also mentions the character of drug addicts and their enablers (people who perpetuate an addicts drug abuse by making excuses for them or shielding them from the full consequences of their addiction). I'll admit, I've been an enabler. I've seen first hand what drug addiction does to family members, and I've done what I thought would help them, but instead ended up "enabling" their behavior. But enablers just don't want to see their loved ones going to jail for something they can no longer control, or see them wind up dead, or homeless. We think, if I am here, I can protect them. If I take away their keys, they won't get high and get in a car crash. If I.... and so on, because we love them and we understand that allowing them to face the full consequences of their addiction could mean losing them forever. Lyman says drug addicts "manipulate others to believe in their lies, to believe that they are indeed diseased and therefore can not quit because it’s a sickness", and while addicts often lie when they are using, it is not because they are inherently bad people. Lying and other compulsive behaviors are, in fact, symptoms of drug abuse. Brain imaging studies have shown that drugs physically effect areas of the brain involved in decision making, learning, judgment, and behavior control. A person who is abusing may have no real control over their actions, and depending on how intoxicated they are, may have no memory of their behavior once they are sober.

No one wants to be an addict, but just as you can't tell yourself to stop having cancer, or cystic fibrosis, or depression, you can't just wake up one day and decide you are not going to be an addict anymore. Your brain is an organ, and as complex as it is, it can get sick just like any other part of the human body. That is why addiction is a disease and should be treated as such. Taking drugs, or drinking alcohol may initially be a choice, but addiction is not, and many people are now suffering with very few options for treatment. Rehab centers are expensive and often not covered by insurance. Support groups like Drug Addicts Anonymous are free, however they are run by volunteers rather than licensed health care professionals and can only do so much to help people who struggle with addiction. Plus, many addicts are scared to seek help for fear of being arrested. So, despite addiction being one of the biggest problems in U.S. health today, out of the millions of Americans that suffer with addiction only about 1 in 10 receive treatment. That is appalling, and we as a society need to do a better job supporting those with substance abuse problems. The sooner we stop demonizing addicts and telling them to "just quit already", the sooner we can start actually helping the people who struggle with addiction everyday. We also need better education to prevent young people from using because they don't understand the consequences of a drug, or because they think its "safe" since it came from a doctor's office.

Pain is relative, so lets try having some compassion instead of comparing peoples' struggles.