Addiction: Disease or Choice?

Please join us for a discussion with local professionals at the Grand Rapids Area Library. Pizza served.

RSVP appreciated: [email protected] or call 218-999-5883

This meeting is free and open to the public.

For centuries, addiction to alcohol and drugs has been seen as a moral failing. The person addicted was viewed as lacking in willpower. That view is still held by many individuals today.

People often believe that someone suffering from addiction is making the conscious choice to keep using. As someone looking in at an addicted person, it’s easy to wonder why that person won’t just stop. When a person loses their life to a drug addiction, someone undoubtedly says something along the lines of “they made their choice.” The thought goes that the addicted person made the conscious decisions to continue their drug addiction and they got what was coming to them. It is common to assume that an addicted individual wants to live the life of an addict. Consequently, the way we view a condition heavily influences the way we treat those who have it.