It does starts with a choice.
[QUOTE=Sanctimonious6;5832174]That's the crux of the matter right there. You think addiction is a choice. The entire universe of professional experts who spend their lives researching this stuff disagree with you. But that won't stop you from continuing to believe addiction is a choice. Some people believe all sorts of stupid shite contrary to all the evidence, and nothing can change their mind. So no point arguing about it.[/QUOTE]No. It starts with a choice. For a person to get addicted to opiates, meth, crack or gambling, etc. It starts with choosing to engage in opiates, meth, crack or gambling (exception is the opiate based painkiller prescribed by a doctor that gets out of control). If you choose to do meth, heroin, crack, you assume the risk you could become an addict. Once you reach that point, it may be a disease because of the physical dependency, but you didn't not suddenly acquire it due to no fault of your own like acquiring cancer etc.
A voice of reason and common sense
[QUOTE=GMan25;5832647]No. It starts with a choice. For a person to get addicted to opiates, meth, crack or gambling, etc. It starts with choosing to engage in opiates, meth, crack or gambling (exception is the opiate based painkiller prescribed by a doctor that gets out of control). If you choose to do meth, heroin, crack, you assume the risk you could become an addict. Once you reach that point, it may be a disease because of the physical dependency, but you didn't not suddenly acquire it due to no fault of your own like acquiring cancer etc.[/QUOTE]Thank you. Yes, addiction is a mental illness. However, unlike other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, it's an entirely preventable one. If you choose never to use meth, crack, or heroin recreationally, your chances of becoming addicted to any of them are zero. No such preventative choice is available to schizophrenics. Those who fail to make this distinction ae either thick-headed or are intentionally trying to deceive people for the sake of an agenda.