Drug and Alcohol Addiction – Why the Distinction?

Posted on February 10, 2010

Lexington, Kentucky 2/09/2010 06:36 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

A person who is in recovery
from an addiction; that is, they are either in treatment or have
previously sought treatment will say, “I’m in recovery from drug
addiction,” or “I’m a recovering alcoholic.” In other words, they make
a distinction between the types of substance to which they were
addicted.

The phrase
“drug addiction” is most commonly used to denote addiction to drugs
such as cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine, to name just a few, or to
refer to addiction to prescription drugs (such as painkillers), or to
recreational drugs (for example, “Ecstasy” ). “Alcohol addiction”—that
phrase is self-explanatory.

People tend
to forget, however, that alcohol is also classified as a drug. For some
reason, perhaps because it can be legally bought or sold, or because
it’s physical make-up (in other words, it only comes in liquid form) is
so unique, a person who does drink alcohol just does not think that he
or she is “taking a drug.”

In fact, the
distinction can be such that when it is an adolescent who suffers from
alcoholism, the parents often express relief that it is not a drug
addiction. Tragically, some parents may even believe that because
alcohol is involved, the problem is not as serious as if it were drug
addiction.

Whether it is drugs or alcohol, drug and alcohol addiction recovery
should be the primary focus, not what the addiction stemmed from, or
whether or not one addiction is worse than another. All addictions are
bad, no matter what caused them.