Addiction: a choice or a disease?

It is often argued whether addiction is considered a choice or a disease. Some say that people choose the addiction, therefore they can choose to end the addiction. Some say addicts have no choice, that the addiction takes over and becomes a disease that one now has to battle.

What is addiction? According to www.dictionary.com, addiction is:

“the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.”

One doen’t choose to be enslaved in such a horrendous feeling; however, one does choose the step of doing the drug in the first place. One choose the drug (or addiction I guess you can say) of choice and chooses to move forward with doing that drug while fully knowing the the consequences for it.

But once that whirlwind begins, can one just simply choose to leave it? I don’t think it’s that easy. At this point there are pyschological and physical dependencies, and usually a lack of resources to get back on the right track. One can no longer think straight or be physically well without the drug-is that really a choice?

I think addiction involves both choice and disease. Like I said previously, the involvement with the drug is by choice. One often turns to drugs in order to cope with trauma, loss, and pressure; however, we all know that drugs is not the only answer. Many choose to deal with the above factors in a completely differently light, and therefore choose not to be involved with addiction. The addiction itself- the dependency factors (once developed) is where I think the disease lies. The inability to make rational, sober choices is due to a malfunctions in different organs, taking the choice away from the drug user. The lack of resources (e.g., a home, money, counselling) also takes away the ability for the drug user to battle his or her disease.

Take for example another disease, let’s say lung cancer. If you were a smoker, and found out you had lung cancer, yet could not afford any treatment for it, would you really quit now knowing that you were going to die in a few months anyway?

Addiction is a controversial issue and I believe that while it is a disease, there are many choices that are presented along the way. It is how one interprets these options and whether he or she chooses the way out. But sometimes, when there is nothing or no one there to help you, you let the disease take over. The hopelessness, the despair, that is the disease. It is powerful and heavy; many think they are invincible from catching this disease and only think twice it’s too late.