Addiction is an age-old problem and many attitudes toward addiction stem from outdated mindsets. The notion that addiction is a chronic medical disease and should be treated like other chronic diseases such as diabetes or asthma is a recent development. To blame addiction on moral weakness is comparable to blaming seizures on demonic possession. 

Among the most harmful ideas is that addictions should be treated with abstinence. The term abstinence implies self-control. If I abstain from alcohol, I stopped myself from drinking. If someone else stops me from drinking it is prohibition. Abstinence implies addiction is due to a lack of self-control, meaning that addicts are weak and without moral backbone. 

All chronic diseases (eg. asthma, arthritis, Type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, etc.) are marked by periodic flare-ups when previously controlled symptoms return. Relapses are flare-ups in addiction. Opioid addicts who totally discontinue all opioids lose tolerance and could easily die if they were to relapse. Please click here to see an article by Yale News.