I wasn’t sure if I was going to write this post or not. I started it twice, and stopped each time before I had really gotten anything down. I know that this is a sensitive subject for many people, and it’s not my intention to piss anyone off, but I know I’m going to do it anyway. Please consider my opinion with an open mind, as my mind is not currently closed on the matter, and I’d like to hear the thoughts of people who disagree.
I think addiction is a choice. That might not be the best way to start, but it’s the clearest.
Every time someone chooses to have another drink, another puff, or another spin on porn websites they are choosing to continue their addiction. Some might argue that people do NOT choose to have another of whatever particular thing to which they are addicted. I believe that is incorrect as a matter of faulty logic.
Take heroin, for example. Before the first time someone uses heroin it cannot be said that they are addicted. After the second time, it may be plausible. After the third time, it becomes possible. And after that, it seems to become a reality that the person is addicted to heroin. However, they must seek out the heroin every time. They have to snort it, or put the needle to their veins. They make more than a few choices before ever getting the heroin into their systems, and they put the heroin in there anyway. No one does it to them. No one holds them down and shoots them up without their consent. If someone did that, it would be torture, not addiction.
I believe that withdrawal is absolutely real, and probably extremely painful, and psychologically excruciating. I believe that withdrawal is part of addiction, but I don’t believe that withdrawal CAUSES a loss of choice.
When someone who uses heroin begins to go through withdrawal they make the choice to either deal with the withdrawal or shoot up again. It’s certainly a difficult choice, as I imagine no one would ever want to go through withdrawal, but it’s a choice made, one way or the other, nonetheless.
Every time we take a drag of our cigarette we are choosing our addiction. We could stop anytime we wanted if we would simply choose to do so. Sure, the cravings are bad, and everyone is irritating, and the world feels crazier than normal, and we keep getting pissed off at everyone, but none of that forces us to choose to go to the store, to then go to the store, to then choose to spend money on cigarettes, or to then smoke those cigarettes. We have many opportunities to change the way we make choices, but we frequently choose addiction.
Think about it the next time you go to a bar, or open a new pack of cigarettes. Think about if anyone but yourself is controlling your actions. Think about how many choices you’re making before you drink, or before you inhale. There are dozens of places where you could have chosen differently.
I know that people who have had an addiction for some time may internalize it to the point where the choices become habit. Their choices have been the same for so long that they don’t stop to think about them, and they feel like they just end up with a cigarette in their hand once again. I also know that other people can be enablers. Buying you cigarettes, or beer, or drugs to cheer you up. This all makes the choice much more difficult, but I believe the choice is still there.
I think we should have a comprehensive treatment system to help people get over their addictions and to help them get though their withdrawal. Like I said, withdrawal is not something that I imagine anyone wants to go through, which is probably why people continue to choose addiction, but we have to recognize that people, at some point, will want to choose something other than addiction, and we have to be there, as a society, to help them with that choice.
Once again, this was not intended to antagonize or hurt anyone, and I welcome dissenting opinions.
