"Let Me Tell You What I Think," by James Perry

Today I came across a conversation happening between a correctional officer and a few inmates. So, the officer seems to be in depth in the conversation so I dropped in. Just as I had come in to the chat the officer was telling the inmates that addicts make the choice to be drug addicts and that the MAT program is bullshit. That its just another way for addicts to get high. I let the officer continue talking until he brought up Narcan and how its bullshit that people play God by using Narcan to save someone in an overdose. That we should let them die because they made the choice to use and that they know the consequences. They want to be junkies and they know the risk is death. So, I figure I’ve listened enough and no one else is saying anything to this officer. So, I’m like “I’ve heard what you think, now let me tell you what I think. You say it’s our choice to be an addict, well I am an addict. I’ve been addicted to opiates since the age of 15 and I’m here to tell you that I didn’t just wake up one day and decide that I wanted to be an addict the rest of my life. This life is not a choice for us and MAT is not just a legal way to get high. In fact, MAT and Narcan have saved countless lives.” I told this officer that addiction is a horrible disease and there is plenty of scientific proof and scores and scores of information to back this up. Addiction is a disease that is treatable but a lot of people don’t have the patience or the want to help an addict. I think there are so many people out there that do not understand addiction and I think that people have their own opinions about addiction and their own ideas about the best way to handle the epidemic and handle drug addicts. But these people that are biased toward addicts are the ones that still follow the old stigma about addicts and they still believe a very distorted concept of what an addict is. But the truth is, addiction is a very serious disease and I too suffer from this disease. And I am still a good person and am working very hard toward my recovery. It is a very tolling process but it doesn’t help anyone when you act like we are unfixable things as opposed to treatable human beings who have suffered so much without the added stigma. Needless to say the officer didn’t have anything to respond, but if I did change his mind…….that’s one small win. That’s what I think.