Addiction Doesn’t Discriminate – We Do

"Calling it lunacy makes it easier to explain away the things we don't understand."― Megan Chance

The lawyer who uses to remain on top of his cases.
The businessman who does cocaine to keep up with the pressure that surrounds reaching targets.
The cop who blows in between arresting people who do the very thing he’s addicted to.
The sex worker who uses to numb herself from the pain that comes with the nature of her work.
The psychologist who drinks his traumas away.

The point is. Addiction touches people from all walks of life. Not just the very unlucky ones that are wandering on the streets. High performers can fall into the web of addiction just as much. Anyone can become a sufferer of addiction. And while very different reasons separate each person struggling from addiction with stories of their own, the common ground they all share is the profound pain sitting inside their wounded soul.

Pain that’s so agonizing that the only way they have found to make it go away for a moment is by using the substance of their choice. Like a devil disguised as an angel, addiction came into their lives with what at first sight appeared to be like a savior – something they have been needing for so long to finally feel at ease in a world so cruel.

The tragic irony is that while they have found home in the substance of their choice, they will be made to feel like misfits once again when labeled by others as junkies. Addicts. Losers. People that lack willpower. People that are dangerous. Which will only exacerbate the pain they feel within. Which will only confirm why they have been feeling like outcasts for so long.

What a shame is it that people don’t want to know what they don’t know. How absolutely horrible is it that the stigma around addiction is as deadly as the substances they make use of to escape the darkness of their own minds. People – professionals included – love to rip apart the dignity of those who suffer from conditions they don’t want to understand. You’re HIV positive? People automatically assume you’re either addicted to drugs or you’re a fucking slut. You’re a person of black skin that suffers from a substance addiction? Double the shame. They will belittle you and secretly blame your culture for it.