disease. We have got to get over the argument of whether substance use
disorder is a disease or not. The argument itself implies blame and
questions whether someone with substance use disorder deserves
treatment or not. It’s ridiculous, and it is actually harming people. The
prejudice feeds the stigma, and stigma is the roadblock to effective,
ongoing research and treatment.
Stigma of Substance Use Disorder is Our AIDS Crisis
As I have mentioned before, the stigma around substance use disorder
has prohibited research and reform. Although right now things are
starting to change, we still have a long way to go. It is the people that
have substance use disorder and have come out the other side of it that
are breaking the stigma by providing education, pushing for policy
reform, and reaching back to help those who are still in the battle.
Addiction does not discriminate. It can happen to anyone. Michael
Boticelli (2016) was the director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy during the Obama administration. He has more than twenty years
of recovery from substance use, which has made him passionate about
the issue. In his TED talk, Boticelli (2016) speaks about the similarities
of the stigma between substance use disorder and the HIV/AIDS
epidemic of the 1980s. When people started dying of HIV/AIDS,
specifically gay men, there was an enormous amount of ignorance and