When a person is going through stressful situations, such as family, work, or financial problems, sometimes the easiest route to take is indulging in small rewarding things. These things can be safe, like enjoying a piece of chocolate cake, or life changing, such as partaking in recreational illegal substance use.
In addition, substance use (is a dependence on a legal or illegal drug or medication) as a disease (a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or affect a specific location) or choice has been a very controversial topic, creating a lot of debate among people and researchers. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2013 “it was projected that 24. 6 million people ages 12 and over used illegal substances in the past month. This percentage increased from 8. % of the population in 2002. Illegal substance use has been at an all-time high since 2013 in individuals that are in their late teens, early twenties” (NIDA, 2015).
For decades, there has been speculation whether substance use is in fact a debilitating disease or simply a decision of free will. In many cases, there has been countless research that concludes that substance use is a chronic disease and its difficult to cure. On the other hand, other researchers suggest that substance use is a choice and can lead the individual to a successful remission.
Even though substance use negatively impacts the lives of so many people and has claimed the lives of thousands of other Americans, I question whether substance use disorder should be considered a” disease”. Because substance use disorder is a choice of free will, does not meet the criteria of a disease, and has been proven to have a successful remission without medical intervention, I believe substance use is not considered a disease. Essentially, substance use is a disorder where the use of one or more drugs impairs the daily life of the individual.
Even though there are people who find themselves in either position of substance use, it doesn’t change that cataphoric events take place under these circumstances. Engaging in such an act that creates a debilitating need to get high as often as possible, regardless of the destructive consequences that can potentially alter a person’s brain functioning pattern and ultimately causing an individual to lose everything, including their own life, is simply a choice a person decides to make. Today, one of the most common things to see, are substance abusers. Humans, especially in the United States of America, have the gift f free will and expressing it in any way, shape, or form.
A person is solely driven by free will and that is what helps them make day to day decisions. Previous research found, that individuals don’t decide from one day to the next that they want to become drug abusers, but they often make decisions that eventually lead to substance use disorder. This is because most of the time the decisions that are made involve the better current option, meaning that during certain situations substance use brings immediate pleasure and reduces the negative effects (Branch, 2011).
Substance use is a choice, for the reason being that the same person who chose to try an illicit substance for the first time and fell into addiction, can also choose to stop abusing the drug. In previous research, it has been stated that “substance use is considered a disease, because it alters the brain functioning patterns. That is, the CNS is involved in a person’s behavior” If this is true, other activities, such as reading should be a disease due to the brain functioning differences between people who read and those who don’t (Branch, 2011).
Substance use has been considered a brain disease, because there is a predisposition to addiction. Unquestionably, an individual does not possess compulsive behavior due to a genetic predisposition and substance use addiction. This is, because there is no direct relationship between compulsion and predisposition (Heyman, 2013). A previous study found a steep discounting, which refers to the behavior of choosing short-term rewards, despite the having the possibility of having a bigger reward in the long-term. This is related to substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use, and the amount experimentation with the substances.
Delay discounting and substance use disorder are related to each other because the individuals that misuses the drugs want and need a quick fix to cope with depression and the world without any effort. Rather, than putting in the work to later benefit from the long-term reward. In short, a substance use addict with always go for the impulsive choice, then the self-control option (Odum, 2011). Also, there was a relationship between delay discounting and family history of tobacco, alcohol, and substance misuse and personal substance use” (VanderBroek et al. 2016).
I understand that people can be predisposed to substance use just as they can be for asthma, diabetes, cancer, or heart disease. However, I still disagree with substance use being considered a disease. While some might say that substance use is an incapacitating disease, it doesn’t meet the diagnostic criteria to be labeled a disease. Instead, previous research has proven that addiction is a negative response towards an underlying psychological condition, such as not knowing how to cope with everyday life (Holden, 2012).
Other research showed that substance use addiction is not a transmissible, contagious, hereditary, degenerative, or traumatic “disease”, but rather a self-acquired choice. For example, actual chronic diseases will become worse if they are left untreated. Moreover, in a criminal case, a federal judge will not hand down a verdict of “not guilty “because of mental illness to a person that was under the influence that claimed the life of someone else (Holden, 2012). As mentioned before, everyone makes choice in what they decide to do in life, including drugs.
Yet, not everyone has a compulsive attitude towards engaging in all activities. Even though some previous research suggests that substance use is a considered a disease, the thought of experimenting with illicit substances is simply a choice that is made. A person doesn’t decide that they want to become an addict from one day to the next, but rather it is the choices that are made lead them to addiction. The decisions that are made always deal with what is the better option to dealing with certain issues.
Even though people have other non-addicting options, they will still gravitate towards substance misuse, because under certain situations illicit substances possess immediate pleasurable advantages than other coping mechanisms (Branch, 2011). As previously mentioned, substance use is merely a choice made by the individual. It is as simple as deciding to want to wake up and be a better and more productive person tomorrow. For instance, in some diseases, remission is not always an option, whereas for substance use it can be.
It was previously found, that substance use disorder has one of the highest remission rates of any other psychological disorder. Most substance abuse addicts quit illicit drugs on their own by age 30, without any medical intervention. Their main motives for abstaining from drugs are family and financial problems (Heyman, 2013). Additionally, more research demonstrated that when an individual has “something to lose”, like their health, job, or freedom, is motivating enough to result in a positive remission (Laudet, Savage, & Mahmood, 2002).
Even though everyone is entitled to make their own decisions, with the same regard they should also take responsibility for their actions. Sometimes what one might think is the better option to their problems, is not always the case. If given the chance to decide between having rewarding effects now, then in the long run, an individual will always choose the impulsive option. Due to opting for the impulsive option, drugs can cause immediate rewarding effects at a high cost. All in all, substance use disorder should not be considered a disease.
Because, as a country, people have made substance use their excuse to blame the world for the hard times they face. Addiction to substance use is a behavior that individuals choose to engage in. In short, all behaviors that a person displays, are choices. Moreover, substance use is not a disease, rather a response to coping with hard times, and remission to substance use has been proven successful in many cases. Instead individuals should get high, only now on living life to the fullest and doing healthy things, such as being in love, or making a difference in someone’s life.
