Illicit drug users and doctors who treat them push to end ‘stigmatizing’ language
Saying that someone has a substance-use disorder rather than calling them an addict is an example of understanding their struggles and needs
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Calling someone a junkie was once the norm, but many people who use illicit drugs and those who treat them say the word addict is just as stigmatizing. At the Crosstown Clinic, which provides pharmaceutical heroin treatment for people hooked on the opioid, someone has crossed out “addicts” on a notice posted by a group called the Addicts Union and substituted “patients.” Dr. Scott MacDonald, lead physician at Crosstown, said the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders no longer lists the term addict. People who chronically use illicit drugs are now considered to have a substance-use disorder, not an addiction, which is more stigmatizing.
