The more research I do and the more blog posts I write, the less I understand the stigmas surrounding drug and alcohol abuse. Assigning stigmas to substance use disorderrs doesn’t help the substance use disorderrs. It certainly doesn’t accomplish anything for anyone.

Instead, if we view substance use disorder as a highly treatable disease, we can help substance use disorderrs. We can also stop piling up psychological baggage for people who are already dealing with enough in their lives.

While I’m obviously no doctor, substance use disorder looks very much like a disease to me. It causes physical damage to the body and brain. Medical professionals can use medications and other treatments to help repair this damage. Doesn’t this all resemble a disease?

Some people, however, still look down upon people struggling with drug or alcohol abuse. The comedian Mitch Hedberg once said, “Alcoholism is the only disease people can be mad at you for having. “God dammit, Otto, you’re an alcoholic! God dammit, Otto, you have lupus. One of those doesn’t sound right.”

It’s funny because it’s true. People struggling with alcohol and drug abuse still get a lot of grief. In a way, the statement is also a sad one, because Mitch Hedberg himself died of a drug overdose in 2005.

Did Hedberg know he had a problem but didn’t seek help because of the stigmas surrounding drug and alcohol abuse? Are others reluctant to find such help because of such stigmas?

Education can help erase such stigmas. Spreading the word that drug addiction and alcohol abuse are diseases, not moral failures, can help. So can spreading the word about treatment for drug and alcohol abuse and the fact that this treatment has helped all sorts of people in all kinds of ways. Stigmas are burdens, and a little education can help us lift such burdens.