This article is part of WCPO's Heroin Project: How Do We Respond?
Perilou Goddard is a professor of psychological science at Northern Kentucky University.
Our community continues to be devastated by the epidemic of heroin and other powerful opioid drugs like illicit fentanyl. Families are torn apart, young lives once full of promise end in death or disease.
We search for answers, from tougher penalties for those who sell opioids illegally to expanded access to medication-assisted treatment. Our quest is hampered by the deep stigma attached to opioid use disorder, which, like other forms of substance use disorders, is treated like a choice rather than a disease.
Many members of the public focus on the fact that people who use heroin or other opioid drugs choose to do so, and most of the time, they are correct when they’re talking about the initial use of the drug. But this scenario is too simple.
[For more of this story, written by Perilou Goddard, go to http://www.wcpo.com/news/opini...hoice-we-can-control]
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