<p>“There are growing opportunities for students in recovery in college,” said Patricia Taylor, director of Faces and Voices of Recover, a national group. “This is a whole new era. There is interest in helping young people sustain their recoveries.”</p>
<p>The student highlighted in the article is a 41 year old
recovering heroin addict battling an 18 year addiction. Not your typical partying college student.</p>
<p>Actually, one in ten people will struggle with the disease of addiction at some point in their lifetime. The “typical partying college student” could use some alternatives for sure, but college students who have early onset addiction require recovery support. It is a matter of life and death. </p>
<p>Addiction is a disability, a brain disease, which does not discriminate in terms of race, socioeconomic status, region of the country, intelligence, etc. It is, in the absence of treatment, a progressive disease which results in permanent disability or death. </p>
<p>Every college should offer a recovery support program to this vulnerable population. At the very least, every state should have at least one relatively affordable campus with a developed recovery program based on the highly successful Texas Tech model. This college should be a non-flagship state school with admission requirements which are reasonable for a population which typically suffers much academic disruption.</p>
<p>Spideygirl, are you a doctor of some sort? Because I doubt anyone with half a brain would call an addiction a disease. Please look up the word and see if it has anything to do with alcohol addiction.</p>
<p>whatonite1: “I doubt anyone with half a brain would call an addiction a disease.”</p>
<p>You clearly aren’t afraid to display your ignorance. The disesase theory of addiction is well-established, as even the most cursory Google search will show, and its the basis for most of the substance abuse treatment programs in the US right now. Only a very small minority do not consider addiction a disease. It is, indeed, still considered idiopathic. But in every way except for a scientifically proven menthod of onset, addiction fits the description of a disease and is usually considered as such. Those who do not think it is are outside the mainstream of current medical thinking.</p>
<p>Addiction is a choice. It’s a behavior, and therefore is voluntary. Something you can control with willpower is not a disease. AIDS is a disease. Cancer is a disease. Alcoholism is not.</p>
<p>There is no gene for alcoholism. You keep telling these people it’s a disease and they feel powerless to do anything about it. </p>
<p>Next thing you know, people will be calling obesity a disease. Oh wait, they do. What’s next? Farmville?</p>
<p>Get over yourselves people. Don’t let these losers tell you you’re weak-willed. You are not a victim. Take charge of your lives.</p>
<p>Addiction isn’t classified as a disease so that alcoholics don’t feel like they can do anything about it. It’s classified as a disease so that people understand what you don’t.</p>
<p>Addiction to anything causes observable chemical changes, which resist your attempts to overcome it. Yes, with enough willpower it is possible, but deciding to put down the whiskey bottle is simply not as easy as deciding to quit your job or move to another country. Telling people to just get overthemselves and stop drinking does not actually do anything.</p>
<p>Well, no. It does make you feel better in your little fantasy world, where problems you don’t personally have are the fault of the people who have them.</p>
<p>Substance-free dorms are a great option for the general population who would like a more substance-free living environment ('Norms").</p>
<p>For young people in recovery, more support on campus is necessary in order to achieve good statistical results. This should include random drug testing, weekly group and individual therapy, academic support, regular twelve-step meeting attendance, and organized social activities with a reasonably sized sober peer group of other students in recovery.</p>
<p>As an addict who has personally experienced the horror and destruction that the “disease of addiction” has caused in my life, I’m going to go with, ‘Addiction IS a Disease’ for $400.</p>
<p>It took me 15 years to get my **** straight and finally get some advanced education. My first go round at K-State was a waste of time because I usually came to class hung over on Monday, then Tuesday and the other three followed behind pretty quickly. </p>
<p>And that was just my problem with alcohol that for some reason I couldn’t stop drinking constantly with ‘will power’. </p>
<p>Tough ****z is right LogicWarrior, I probably stole something from you or someone you know when I was losing the battle with willpower alone. That’s the kind of stuff I did in my black outs. </p>
<p>I hope you never have to experience addiction either personally or through someone you care about because it sucks. It doesn’t make any sense and the disease has no predudice, it will try to kill anyone it can get it’s hands on.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m new here. My name is Dave. Very interesting conversation you folks are having.</p>