Addiction: choice or disease?

I'm in the hospital a lot due to my own health issues. I meet lots of people who suffer from addiction. The biggest issue is addiction is not always drug related. People tend to down-play things like gambling or sex addicts. But addiction comes in 2 forms, physical and mental. Both need addressed as early as possible.

One of my brothers is a sex addict and alcoholic. For him it is a coping mechanism (for his PTSD). I think early intervention is key in this kind of situation. Show people who are addicted that there are better ways to deal with their problems. I know to someone who is not an addict has a hard time seeing this because it seems intuitive.. but a lot of addicts really don't have coping mechanisms that most people take for granted.

Others suffer from the genetic side. Some people are genetically easier to become dependent on a drug. These people can develop secondary addictions as a coping mechanism. But normally they are the ones addicted to prescription drugs. I think these people have it the hardest because genetics can't change as easily as the mind. I think the best way to help is accountability. If someone you know has a narcotic prescription from chronic pain or surgery, keep an eye on them. If something doesn't seem right, check in on them. Hold them accountable for missing pills and if you need, get them some professional help. The longer they have the problem, the harder it is to deal with.

The other group tend to get addicted young. They try a drug and like it and try it again and ge hooked. Talking to and educating young people i think is the best thing to do. If you have kids it might be a good idea to take them to see how sever addiction really can be. I know every place works different, but when I was in high school some of use convinced the school to to a field trip (for every health class). They would go to a recovery clinic and see it first hand.

For a lot of people addiction just seems like a problem for "other people". If we could address that, I think it would really help. If you can't do these things, you can at least advocate for better treatment funding.

"I would like to see that we are very aware of our ow actions ( not smoke around kids , keep them from medicines , not give them painkillers for every little pain and neglegt the cause etc etc)" I agree with this part 100% tempting people or showing them these are ok with our actions have a bigger effect than people realize.