The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
TODAY’S QUESTION: Is addiction a public health issue, or a personal responsibility issue?
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Personal responsibility – it becomes a public issue when druggies do illegal things, obstruct sidewalks, leave needles out, use the public as a toilet, etc. Laws pertain to everyone – including those addicted.
A personal responsibility issue. You’re the one who became addicted.
You are 100% correct.
It is a personal responsibility issue. Yet some addictions lead to public health issues. Drug addiction is an example.
Addiction is a personal responsibility issue. While most people think of alcohol and drugs
when they think about addiction, there are all kinds of addictions. Biting your fingernails, smoking tobacco, or weed can be an addiction. So can the internet, social media, cell
phones, video games, and television. Sex, gambling, shopping, hitting the gym and
exercising can be habit-forming. Some people form an addiction to tattoos, piercings,
and plastic surgery. Food can also be an addiction. There are people that over eat when
they feel stressed, or depressed, but I do believe that an eating disorder such as bulimia,
and anorexia is definitely a mental health issue. Most other addicts, especially alcohol
and drug abusers, are weak and afraid. They are afraid to face reality, and too weak and
afraid to do anything about it except to drink and use drugs.
Been there, done that. While in Vietnam, we would smoke opium because we were afraid,
and suddenly we weren’t afraid anymore. We would also get morphine from the medics. Naturally, I continued using drugs when I got out, and found most of my friends were living
in the Haight-Ashbury, where every day was a party. It was in 1974 when I decided it was getting too expensive, and with God’s blessing I quit the habit and my life only got better.
How is this even a question? Addiction is an individual issue & the individual needs to be held accountable for their own choices & yes addiction is a choice. I am an alcoholic & quit drinking on February 28th 2010 I remember this day distincfully as it was the first day I chose not to drink. I have not had a drink since that day & every day I have chose not to drink. I want a drink badly every day but I make a different decision & that is my choice. It is not society’s responsibility to save myself…
6 comments and all 6 got it right.
The liberal want to made everything
the public problem…..it NOT!
Making addiction a public issue presents a money laundering opportunity.
Both. Addicts are responsible for their own behavior and public policy must address the common issues that arise from that behavior. We have rules and laws about being drunk in public or driving under the influence, and we now have an urgent set of issues with addicts’ behavior in public related to various opioid addictions. Public health agencies are going to need to participate in analysis needed to start protecting quality of life in our neighborhoods and how to manage those who will not or cannot overcome their addiction but cause issues on the street (especially since many addicts don’t have insurance and rehab is very expensive and ineffective if cut short), whether it is ultimately determined that is incarceration or not. Politicians aren’t coming to save quality of life for the public or addicts; they are busy funding the homeless & addiction industrial complex administrations.
IF alcoholism were a matter of willpower,
there wouldn’t be any alcoholics.
.
Alcohol is a great for cleaning stains,
it also good at removing,
relationships
families
friends
marriages
doors
walls
vehicles
jobs
vehicles
lives . . . . . . . .
.
A person with alcohol dependency has to HIT A BOTTOM,
a point at which they become sick-n-tired of being sick-n-tired
and come to the realization they never want to be that way again.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvXgft0PvDQ&t=44s
But alcoholism IS a matter of willpower – despite being a disease.
Yes, an alcoholic or drug addict has to hit a hard bottom, to even become aware of the problem. But without willpower they can’t stay sober, which is the only treatment for addiction as a disease.
They have to figure out which situations trigger relapses and learn to avoid or manage them. Find replacements for alcohol-related activities that they enjoyed, etc. Lose the drinking buddies of all descriptions and find new social circle.
Nobody other than an alcoholic him/herself can do it, and it takes willpower to stay the course.
This is like trying to argue which came first, the chicken or the egg.
When it affects no one but the addict it is a person responsibility issue; however, addiction will never just affect the addict alone. Society is always going to get drug (pun intended) into this through the cost of medical treatment(s), the cost from the Criminal Justice system, the cost to warehouse and the related crimes propagated by addiction (prostitution, theft/burglary, murder/manslaughter, lower standard of living etc.) to those unrelated and related to the addict.
The root cause is a personal issue but it will eventually become a public issue if it becomes large enough.
Hey, i’m not addicted to Claycord.com! I can quit posting whenever I want……..I just don’t want to
yuk, yuk, yuk