I recently had Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, the Commissioner of the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services of New York State, on my radio show. The topic was Decriminalization of Addiction. The conversation was a spirited one and the Commissioner very wisely pointed out that addiction is a "chronic illness." While I found myself completely agreeing with her, I decided to play devil's advocate and asked her what we should do about those individuals who have a disease that can repeatedly results in negative consequences, not only to themselves but to others - destruction of property, domestic violence, vehicular incidents, and in the worst case scenario death. We both agreed that the criminal justice system must work in conjunction with addiction specialists to rehabilitate individuals.

The reality is (as you have heard me say many times) addiction is primary, progressive, chronic and if not treated fatal. It often results in the destruction of lives - families, friends, and even strangers. But it is a disease - it has a biological base that has been proven by so many research studies.. This having been said, we still need to stop people from destroying other people's lives. As I discuss in my model of "carefrontation," we need to treat those with addiction with respect and dignity - not shame or blame them, but hold them responsible for taking action to deal with their illness. In the 21st Century it is time that we use our collective brains to deal with this reality that does not appear to be going away at any time in the near future.