If you think addiction isn't a disease, then you're probably just as big of a simple halfwit as I used to be.

Before I was enlightened by a friend on Facebook, I thought addiction wasn't a disease and I was dead set on believing so. This close-minded way of thinking got me nowhere, but now that I've opened my mind and began to understand what addiction actually is... I get it.

Most of the morons that think addiction is not a disease have a few arguments... one being you chose to pick up the needle/bottle/etc. Number two being you cannot get addicted if you just don't do drugs in the first place. Well, truth is, people choose to do a lot of things that give them diseases.

Let me ask you a few questions...

Do you drink? Do you smoke? Do you have sex? Do you choose to do these things?

The answer to at least one of those questions is probably yes.

So, If your liver fails from drinking, am I allowed to say "you don't have a disease because you chose to drink, so I have no sympathy for you?"

Or can I tell you that (your) lung cancer isn't a disease because you have smoked for 10 plus years?

Maybe it would be OK if I told you that the STD you acquired from having sex isn't a disease, due to the fact that you totally chose to do that.

(I want to acknowledge that I know some men and women are forced into sexual relations, this does not apply to them in any way.)

Those few arguments utterly destroy "addiction is not a disease."

Next, I would like to say I do believe addiction is a choice, and the only way you get the disease is by trying it because you want to. But the reality of it is, people try a lot of things that could hurt them in some way. Whether it's driving a car and getting in a car accident, or swinging on a rope swing and breaking your leg.

Yes, you chose to do it. And yes, you still deserve medical help.

Everyone deserves help when they are struggling or in a low place. I can say this first hand. I live with an addict. I know how it works. I see the choices made, and it may begin as a choice, but whether you like it or not; it's a disease.