Peruvian coca farmers to Paris pushers, coronavirus upends global narcotics trade

Addiction is a disease the same way hoarding is a disease. It's a symptom of an underlying issue. Someone who hoards isnt a "shopaholic," they have OCD. Someone who can't stop drinking isn't an "addict," they very likely are suffering from depression or some other recognized mental disorder.

Addiction needs to be treated with doctors and psychiatrists, no question it's a medical issue. But drinking a bottle of scotch a day isn't a disease, it's a choice about how to deal with a disease you have. Having say, bipolar disorder is not a choice is any way shape or form. Those are very distinct in my mind. A symptom of a disease is not a disease.

I understand my opinion is my own and only explained because I was asked. But as a former addict who has dealt with a lot of the recovery system, I just cannot stand this mentality of being helpless over addiction.

If addiction was a "disease" you were "powerless" over -- no one would ever stop being an addict, and that happens all the time.

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