Drug Addiction The Deadly Habit - 1259 Words

The Deadly Habit Though some consider drug addiction as a disease, it can completely overrun someone’s life. Drug dependence affects one out of twelve Americans and greatly affects the way they live their lives and the people around them (Hedden, Kennet, Lipari, Medley, Tice,1) . In recent years addiction has been studied extensively and the idea that addiction is a disease is based on the changing of the brain and the extensive work it takes to absolve being dependent on drugs. Drugs not only affect the ones whom use them, but their loved ones as well. I have felt the pain first hand of what drugs can do to people and how they change their lives. A drug addict puts the drug over all else and their lives seem to revolve around finding†¦show more content†¦Seeing this change developed me to become interested in how these drugs hooked their users and ruined their lives. Classifying drug abuse as a disease is not only incorrect, but it takes away the personal responsibilities of the drug user. While the way people get addicted to drugs can be different, it is more-or-less the same for everyone. At the end of the day it falls on the user to make the decision on whether to partake in it or not. A portion of those who choose to do drugs might be more susceptible ad fall due to having an addictive personality. If we call drug abuse a disease you make this problem sound like it’s something you can’t beat without medical attention or with out some special treatment. In today’s society, people have lost their values forcing them to have the inability to take responsibility for their own actions. People don’t believe that they could be the center of the problem or that they’re not strong enough to stop the use of these drugs, and instead, choose to label it as a disease. It takes the blame off them instead of facing t he underlining problem of an addiction that was present from the beginning. Drug addiction is not considered a disease because it is curable without the use of medicine. Tim Holden once reported that â€Å"a patient with cancer is not cured if locked In a cell, whereas an alcoholic is automatically cured. NO access to alcohol means no alcoholism. A person with