Pubdate: Sun, 24 Jul 2005
Source: Daily World, The (LA)
OPINION01/507240307/1014/NEWS17
Copyright: South Louisiana Publishing 2005
Contact: 
http://www.dailyworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CUSTOMERSERVICE03
Website: http://www.dailyworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1740
Author: Lisa R. Faust
Note: Lisa R. Faust is the managing editor of the Daily World.

ADDICTS NEED TO COME OUT FROM THE SHADOWS

"Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow - it has no real substance of its 
own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to 
disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, 
or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to 
cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it."

- - Shakti Gawain

Confession time.

I'm addicted to cigarettes. There, I said it out loud and everything. 
(Not that it's a huge secret or anything, but still it's not as easy 
to admit as you think.)

I hate the fact that I smoke.

I actually quit for an entire year and a half while I was pregnant 
and nursing my son. And like an idiot, I started again. It started as 
one cigarette a day, like somehow that would be enough. Well, the 
joke's on me, because of course it wasn't.

So, here I am a full-fledged addicted smoker.

Honestly, though, for as bad as it is, and as much as I want to quit 
(and I swear I will one day), I count myself lucky because it's just 
cigarettes.

Yes, yes, I know that's a horrible thing to say - "just" cigarettes. 
But for all the commercials you see about how bad smoking is and all 
the money that is poured into anti-smoking campaigns, there are a lot 
of things a whole lot worse.

Addiction is a horrific thing to suffer from. But being addicted to 
cigarettes, while terrible in its own way, just doesn't hold a candle 
to addictions to alcohol, gambling, illegal drugs.

These things literally destroy lives, families, whole communities.

I have known personally a number of people who suffer from each of 
those addictions. To watch them struggle is heart-breaking.

And for those of you who read this and have no empathy, those of you 
who say "just get over it," I dare you to spend some time learning 
about these addictions.

When a person suffers from addiction, their brains actually are wired 
differently than those who don't. It isn't as simple as saying "just 
stop gambling" or "just have one drink and not 10" or simply "don't 
buy another bag of cocaine."

It doesn't work that way.

I don't have any fancy stats to back me up on this, but I do believe, 
in my heart of hearts, that addiction is the No. 1 health problem 
facing this country.

Here's why. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, all the things 
you hear so much about, well, you hear so much about them. But how 
often do you hear, I mean really hear, about addiction?

You don't. It's an embarrassment to families. It is so misunderstood 
that people will suffer for their entire lives, ruin themselves and 
their families, rather than talk about it.

How many people have you met who will be more than happy to tell you 
about their health problems - their high blood pressure, the growth 
the doctor found, even their blood-sugar levels?

How many people have you met tell you about their addiction? I'm 
going to guess very few.

The media rarely gets the story truly right because so few people are 
willing to openly talk about their struggles.

In today's Daily World, you'll find a man who was willing. He's not 
local, but we wanted to include his story because it's universal and 
because we hope by hearing what others go through, maybe, just maybe, 
one person, one family will be willing to open up enough to talk 
about it - even amongst themselves.

That's the first step. When we, as a society, shame the addicted 
person into believing he or she simply lacks willpower, we turn our 
eyes from the truth and force even more darkness into an already dim world.

We must be able to talk about it. We must be able to say, honestly, 
here I am and I'm an addict.

That's why I get disturbed by all the "Anonymous" programs out there. 
I understand why they do it and I know it's kind of the chicken and 
the egg thing, but I worry that by labeling everyone with first names 
only, we perpetuate misunderstanding and a further hiding from the truth.

Why should an addict be more ashamed than someone suffering from any 
other medical condition?

There was a Gannett-owned newspaper in South Dakota, a few years 
back, that won a Pulitzer prize for a year-long series on alcoholism 
in their community.

I've been researching how they did it and what it meant to the people 
there. Hundreds of people wrote letters during the year thanking the 
newspaper for shedding light where there is so much darkness.

I know it wasn't easy, but I look at what they did and I am reminded 
that simply, it is the only way.
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MAP posted-by: Beth