There's free will involved when you start, but not anymore once you're addicted. Actually addicted.

Unless you've known this life, you can't begin to understand it. No one starts doing drugs because they want to become a malnourished, homeless, smelly drug addict scouring the streets for money to buy their next fix. & yea, you hear all the hype. I don't know about anyone else but I always says I'd overdose & die before I got to that point.

It's just that it's always there, even when you've been clean forever. & sometimes you're like, "I just wanna feel that first high again. I'll stop after that."

Both my Mother & I have what psychologists call "addictive personalities" .. & both of us have had our fair share of addictions. The only difference, is she is one of the people who believes its not her fault, its the addiction's fault. I refuse to believe that. YOU made the choices, not the drug. & I'm sorry, but anyone who says they "can't control it" is doing nothing but making excuses. Love this post & I really think you hit the nail on the head ! 

I agree and I've been addicted cocaine - still smoke cigarettes too despite having tried to quit a billion times... I guess I just wanted to give you some credit here. I can see this post turning into a rather large argument... It's a really hard thing to say "addiction is a choice" because it is thought of like an incurable disease, and treated with a great degree of negativity from those that don't understand what it's like to be on drugs...  "Choice" makes most think that the severity is less and the decisions will be easier. Yes, the addict had the choice to start using in the first place. Yes, making the choice NOT to use grows harder and harder the stronger the addiction becomes and the more rationale is blurred by the drug itself. YES... some people will never believe themselves worthy of anything more than the addiction itself because use has caused depression and a whole mess of problems they don't have to face when they're high... and thus they will never brave the prospect of getting clean unless forced to. But this is not always the case. I've had friends on both sides of the tracks - with addictions in the illegal substance area or in the form of eating disorders/compulsions. Some have had EVERY opportunity to get clean and in the end I have to say that they CHOSE death. Others, like myself, thought it was enough to hit bottom, seek out a trained professional, and get clean. (Staying clean isn't always this easy, and if you were to read my posts from the last 3-4yrs this would be evident. But I made the conscious decision to "see if I could handle it..." and quickly realized that my days of dabbling with uppers are over.)  I took a Health Psychology class in my last year at university and the main focus was treating illness (physically and therapeutically) in as positive a manner as possible. The belief that one can overcome must remain greater than the prospect that they may fail in a battle against illness. 'Abstinence violation' is one of the most difficult obstacles an addict can face!  But you see, you have to CHOOSE life - and that goes for anyone... addict or not. 

@Ride_Every_Stride@xanga - Good point. It's an everyday battle. Making the decision to have a better life is easy (mostly)  ...but staying in that mindset when you know what real escape feels like... well, that's another thing. I think that's the part that people don't understand - and it's the reason people relapse... =/

I agree with you.  People with addictions make choices all the time.  When you are an addict, it is easier to be an addict than it is to deal with real life.  It is easier to give in to your addiction than it is to face the pain in your life.  It is easier to say that I don't have a choice and I am not in control, than it is to realize that you are in control of your fate.  Of course the temptation is always going to be there, but it is always up to the person with the addiction whether they are going to give in or not.  

Things aren't as black and white as "choice" " no choice". (I also think in the end, everything has a biological reason, wether it's in your consciousness or not )


It often begins with a "normal" choice, but usually people just overestimate themselves. They don't think : "hey cool I''m gonna get all fucked look 10 years older in 2 years and lose custody over my children".
If you decide to recover you also have to make a choice. Many say they don't choose the addiction but they choose recovery. To an extend this is true. Like I said it's not so black and white.
I think if someone is so seriously messed up we cannot leave all responsibility about themselves to them as in "well it is YOUR fault if you die why would I bother". WE have to take care of them as a society...I think that's what we owe to each other s social beings in the family of humans.

The point is addicts do not feel like they have a choice in the same way that you feel you have a choice.
Also, they wouldn't do what they do without the drug. Assuming the individual can become healthy again, it would be unproportional to sentence them for something they did when they were an addict (basically a different person or "not themselves" as people say) because it's not like they'd do it again when they are healthy.

I agree 100% with you. Addiction IS a choice. Wether you want to continue to use or quit.
As a recovered Heroin and Meth addict I choose when to continue and when to stop. I knew I was going to with drawl and choose to continue on. Yes, I may have been addicted but my choices where made by ME on the drug but not the drug it's self. That's pure denial about addiction period. Yes, our thinking is different but when it comes down to it (a sober mind) I can tell you straight up that I made all the choices I made and no, they weren't the best ones but I take full responsibility for each and every one. As on Intervention, I was once saying the same thing as those people were about it being the drug but now being in recovery for a few years that was denial and afraid to admit I had a problem. At the time, I chose to keep being an addict rather than facing my own problems in life.

Damn pretty much everyone has the same massive detailed outlook, At least there are others who feel this way. Might as well give my version. Excuse me in advance for my novel of a comment, but both addiction and my need to understand it, is a big part of my life. While not with the more heavy substances, I do struggle with addiction, with no denial of it. There are no excuses but I do feel that when it comes to addictions to the more severe substances, there are things to consider for both extremes. It's true that addicts are selfish, and often cause nothing but hurt to themselves and others, but robbing old ladies or selling their body probably wasn't plan A. And, of course depending on drug and usage, once your body adapts and/or becomes dependant, it's not a matter of just getting high anymore, but to avoid crippling withdrawals and by any means necessary.  But it's worse when an addict or otherwise see it as being a helpless victim, it just seems to be a weak attempt to remove personal responsibility and all it does is hurt the chance of recovery by giving an excuse to use, relapse, or even to try get clean in the first place. Bottom line, addictions don't happen over night, they comes from repeated and increasingly bad choices until the addiction not only destroys them, but every one around them. And if even when addicts are able to get clean, recovery is a life long process, and weather they're actively using or not, will forever be addicts.

  I don't think people who become addicted went into it expecting to be hooked, it WAS their choice to start drinking, or smoking, or shooting up, etc. And I agree that if they do something illegal that hurts others while under the influence, they should suffer the consequences of their actions. HOWEVER, I don't believe that being an addict is something you can control. If it was, THEN YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BECOME ADDICTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.
  My boyfriend is a smoker, and he's been trying to quit for over three years. He still smokes, and he WILL keep smoking because right now, he can't help it. He can't stop. It's his stress reliever, it's the only thing that can calm him down if he gets too worked up, which happens pretty often. I wish he didn't, I have tried to help him, I have gotten ANGRY with him for ignoring my pleas. He sat me down, told me he loved me, but there was no way I could understand his addiction because I didn't know what it felt like to NEED something, to feel as if I'd die if I didn't smoke in the next five minutes. The stability of his world depends on his next cigarette, otherwise he couldn't function. He has improved a lot, and he's not allowed to smoke in the house or kiss me until he's brushed his teeth and washed off his face. It's a struggle, but I know he is trying to slowly detach himself from this burden.
  That being said, if he ever murdered someone for the sake of a cigarette, I'd sell him down the river faster than it would take him to shower off his deed.

♥L
-SM

I think addiction is a choice, but nobody chose to be influenced by anybody to do something? 

Starting is a choice...but addiction itself is not.