Recognizing Addiction as a Disease Act of 2007
Reading an article this morning, by Maggie Mahar, about societal views on drug addiction, I was encouraged when the author mentioned a bill called the Recognizing Addiction as a Disease Act. This act is sponsored by Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware.
The Recognizing Addiction as a Disease Act would:
Amend the Public Health Service Act and related enactments to redesignate: (1) the National Institute on Drug Abuse as the National Institute on Diseases of Addiction; and (2) the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as the National Institute on Alcohol Disorders and Health.
I, for one, am encouraged. While it’s a small change on the surface, it could have a huge change in the minds of popular culture and, hopefully, lawmakers, law enforcement, and the court systems.
New studies are making huge strides in demonstrating that addiction is, in fact, a disease. Mahar cites a series of essays -Â Addiction Treatment: Science and Policy for the Twenty-First Century - that champion public education and a scientific approach to drug addiction. She also states:
As a result of this new information, experts are increasingly incorporating the recognition that addiction is, in part, a “brain disease” into their treatment recommendations.
It seems that the disease of addiction may finally getting its day in court. It’s about time.
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June 25th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I for one do not agree the addiction is a disease. I got clean over 7 years ago from decades of alcohol and drug abuse. Since getting clean I have not once had a relapse or even a desire to use drugs and alcohol. http://www.stopaddiction.com/index.php/Drug-Rehab/Drug-Rehabilitation/Addiction-Is-Not-A-Disease.html offers a new and refreshing viewpoint on the subject. With the miserably low success rates that often accompany the disease concept of addiction it is refreshing to see new thinking on the subject with a little more applicability.