Presentation to the  UCC Journalism Society.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines addiction as the dependence syndrome as being a cluster of physiological, behavioural, and cognitive phenomena in which the use of a substance or a class of substances takes on a much higher priority for a given individual than other behaviours that once had greater value.

Note that the term Addiction is not used by the WHO. The term addiction for many is a label people carry for the rest of their lives.  For example “I am a recovering addict” “I am an addict” The term addict for many  is demeaning and adds to the stigma of a individual who uses drugs.

In my experience most of the people I have worked with have suffered trauma in one way or another and use drugs as a coping mechanism. For many stigma prevents people from accessing help because of the feelings of worthlessness and shame.........