March 20 to 26 is National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week. The goal is to educate youth about drugs and alcohol, but more than just young people need to reevaluate what they know about the subject. The truth is a lot of what you think you might know about substance use is myth. So, let’s break it down.
First let’s note that the terms “addiction” or “addict” aren’t used very much anymore in professional settings. This decision came when it was finally recognized that alcohol and substance use is a disease and needed to be treated as such. Those words can be stigmatizing, but that gets us to our first myth.
Myth #1: Misuse of drugs or alcohol is a moral failing.
Fact: Substance use disorder is the official and correct term for what was formerly known as an “addiction” Having a substance use disorder has absolutely nothing to do with a person’s values or their ability to tell right from wrong. Like other chronic diseases, substance use disorder has a treatment (detox and rehab as well as counseling and therapy), but at this point there is no known cure.
Myth: Substance use disorder comes from a lack of willpower.
Fact: There is a common misconception that everyone has the ability to use drugs or alcohol casually and that it’s easy to quit. According to National Institute of Drug Abuse, for many the initial decision to use drugs or alcohol may be voluntary, but ongoing use leads to brain changes that interfere with a person’s ability to resist.
Myth: Rehab doesn’t work.
Fact: Relapse rates for substance use disorders are actually about as common as they are for other chronic diseases according to NIDA. Rehab is one kind of treatment and relapse does not mean the treatment didn’t work just that continued maintenance of the disease is needed. Many people who complete rehab for substance use disorders benefit from ongoing therapeutic services, and membership in recovery communities such as Alcoholic Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.
Myth: If you can still get up and take care of all the important tasks of your day you don’t have a substance use disorder.
Fact: Just because you can function does not mean you don’t need treatment. There are a variety of costs of substance use beyond “making it through the day” that you may not be considering. Chronic substance use damages vital organs in your body. Struggling with substance use and mental health often goes hand in hand, and you may be using substances to self-medicate for mental health symptoms. Beyond yourself, your substance use may be taking an emotional toll on your loved ones.
Myth: Illegal drugs are worse.
Fact: Controlled substances like prescription medications, alcohol, nicotine (as found in vaping products as well as cigarettes), and marijuana have the ability to do just as much damage and cause just as many disturbances in your life as illicit drugs if you have a substance use disorder.
Myth: Substance use doesn’t affect people like “me.”
Fact: Substance use disorders cross racial and socioeconomic boundaries. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 46.3 million people aged 12 or older (or 16.5% of the population) met the applicable DSM-5 criteria for having a substance use disorder in 2021, including 29.5 million people who were classified as having an alcohol use disorder and 24 million people who were classified as having a drug use disorder. The racial breakdown in the 2021 survey for those with substance us disorders was American Indian or Alaska Native (27.6%), Multiracial people (25.9%), Black or African American (17.2%), White (17.0%), Hispanic or Latino (15.7%), and Asian people (8.0%) with no one group vastly outpacing another.
