Drug addiction is now a disorder?

I was listening to CBC radio one day recently and I heard a new acronym. It’s OUD. Are you ready? Opioid Use Disorder.

Huh? It’s now a disorder? Come on. It’s called DA or drug addict. A woman they were interviewing who was addicted to opioids but is now on methadone, says, “I got started by experimenting with different drugs, like most people do.”

Excuse me? I didn’t experiment with different drugs and perhaps that’s why I’m not on methadone or dead now. Let’s not make it OK to have OUD. Having PTSD is a disorder caused many times by the horrors of war or being a frontline worker. Drug addiction in most cases is because you made bad choices. Young people today that start taking this junk to get high have no excuse because they have all the knowledge they need.

Not once have I heard about someone taking crack, meth, percocet, oxycodone, fentanyl or other types of these drugs and their life was so much better. If they continue and get hooked it is always a horror movie that you can’t get out of. Are these so-called knowledgeable kids today that stupid?

Anyway, I resent calling an opioid addiction a disorder. Is it a mental disorder? No! It’s still a drug addiction because you made bad choices. I know, I know. There are a few that were prescribed too much and too often opioids and got addicted but if you start taking them to get high, you are just a junkie.

This is just my opinion and if you want to believe otherwise, that’s up to you.

Doug Cameron

Lethbridge