Many Americans live with addiction in some way. Some have addictive personalities, some have loved ones who are addicts, and some fall into both categories. I've experienced addiction via the experiences of loved ones and associates throughout my life. It's a horrible disease that truly hinders the good possible.
My dad experienced addiction as a young boy via his uncle's struggles. Due to that, my dad made a decision not to drink. Then late into his forties, he decided to have a drink once in a while, but I'm sure his longevity, in part, is related to his life of little alcohol. As a young boy, he witnessed the challenge addiction creates.
Knowing that addiction occurs throughout my family line, I tried to educate my sons early on about our genetic proclivity to addiction. I told them the stories of addicts throughout our family line, and how that addiction hurt many. I believe that early education related to addiction has had a powerful and positive impact so far. May that continue.
Also, I wonder about how society might work against addiction to help everyone live better lives. Already we have AA and Al-Anon groups that support those who face addiction. We have banned harmful cigarette ads and smoking in many places to curtail the addiction to smoking and related cigarette's health risks, and there have been good lawsuits to eliminate unnecessary prescription of addictive opioids. There's more we can do. In every way possible, we have to educate people about the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol, and stop those that prey on young, vulnerable, and uneducated people with drug distribution. Further, we can eliminate the unhealthy display of alcohol use via the media--too many shows depict people using alcohol in unhealthy ways thus making that seem normal and popular, when, in fact, what is displayed in unhealthy and problematic.
We can think about our own lifestyles too. Do we too readily promote the use of alcohol in ways that set the stage for addiction and addictive behaviors or do we work for healthier get togethers and lifestyles?
A lawyer I know once remarked that most of the court cases he had involved addiction because addiction often leads to crime. We need to take addiction seriously via education, media, and medicine. We need to work for the best ways to prevent addiction in the first place and rid addicted people of their harmful addictions. We can do this.