5 ms·

It doesn't seem reasonable to me. In this usage it is normalizing drug use. When you use this terminology, you're implicitly saying "They're a person and they j

It doesn't seem reasonable to me. In this usage it is normalizing drug use. When you use this terminology, you're implicitly saying "They're a person and they just so happen to be addicted to drugs" as if that drug use doesn't imply anything about the person's character. A drug user is not the same as a disabled person. If you're a drug abuser, I think the words people use to describe you are the least of your problems. All this politically-correct clamoring accomplishes nothing in the end. If these new words like "PWUD" became widely adopted, they would just inherit the same stigma as their predecessors. It's happened time and time again. It has nothing to do with improving people's lives and everything to do with providing lip service to a voting demographic. If you're not a politician, why waste your (and everyone else's) time with this doublespeak?

kmos17 4y ago
I don’t care either way about the acronym, but drug addiction has nothing to do with character. It is a disease and should be treated as such, and in fact the only proven way to stop drug addiction is through treatment.
- rayiner 4y ago
  You can't get addicted to drugs if you never take drugs in the first place. Absent situations like getting addicted to opioids after surgery, taking drugs does say something about your character. Drug addiction is a biological phenomenon, but it can't happen without drug use, which is a social problem. For example, drug overdose death rates are six to eight times higher among white Americans than among Asian Americans: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/press-release/drug-overdose-deaths-rose-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-particularly-among-black-and-american-indian-alaska-native-people https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/press-release/drug-.... I'm pretty sure the biology of drug addiction doesn't meaningfully differ between those groups.

kmos17 4y ago

I don’t care either way about the acronym, but drug addiction has nothing to do with character. It is a disease and should be treated as such, and in fact the only proven way to stop drug addiction is through treatment.

rayiner 4y ago
You can't get addicted to drugs if you never take drugs in the first place. Absent situations like getting addicted to opioids after surgery, taking drugs does say something about your character. Drug addiction is a biological phenomenon, but it can't happen without drug use, which is a social problem. For example, drug overdose death rates are six to eight times higher among white Americans than among Asian Americans: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/press-release/drug-overdose-deaths-rose-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-particularly-among-black-and-american-indian-alaska-native-people https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/press-release/drug-.... I'm pretty sure the biology of drug addiction doesn't meaningfully differ between those groups.