“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.”
– Yehuda Berg

Whether we know it or not, our words carry weight and meaning. When used improperly, language and phraseology can have a lasting and destructive impact on stigmatized societal issues. The substance use disorder (SUD) field is not the only area where this is problematic; there is a plethora of research that has shown individuals with an SUD are viewed more negatively than people with physical or psychiatric disabilities.[1][2]  That is a huge problem considering there was an estimated 20.8 million people who were thought to have a substance use disorder in 2015.[3] More Americans now die every year from accidental drug overdoses than in motor vehicle crashes.[4]  An estimated 89% of people in need of treatment are not receiving it.3 These startling statistics affords the community a call to action to be thoughtful about not only what we say, but how we say it. Stigma surrounding SUD is real, and this all-reaching societal epidemic is not going to get better overnight. However, if we change our language, and educate one another, more people may seek out the treatment they so desperately need.

One strategy to shift the way we talk about SUD is to adopt clinical, non-stigmatizing language. Words like “addict”, “alcoholic”, “junkie”, and “drunk” have been ingrained into us with a negative connotation. Other phrases commonly used like “drug habit” are both polarizing and misinformative by implying someone has a choice. These simple little word choices instill false information into our society that can take decades to reeducate. Words like “abuse” or “abuser” can have negative judgements and perceptions which may be the difference between someone receiving punishment or receiving the treatment they need. Additionally, we must adjust the language we use that label whether or not someone is using. When discussing a toxicology screen, the terms “clean” and “dirty” are used which carry negative connotations as opposed to the preferred verbiage of “positive” or negative.”  We need to continue to promote the proliferation of these more neutralizing words.

It is important that we continue to drive this life changing message home to ensure that we are decreasing the negative attitudes and misconceptions that surround this fatal disease.  Organizations like the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) have begun to require terminology at their conferences:

Instead of “addict,” please use “person with a substance use disorder.”  Instead of “addicted to X,” please use “has an X use disorder,” “has a serious X use disorder,” or “has a substance use disorder involving X” (if more than one substance is involved.) Instead of “alcoholic,” please use “person with an alcohol use disorder.” Instead of “drug/substance abuse,” please use “substance use disorder.” Instead of “former addict,” please use “person in recovery” or “person in long-term recovery.”

Here are a few things you can do on your campus to help change the way we talk about addiction and recovery:

–   Check marketing materials for stigmatizing language.

–   Practice non-stigmatizing and person-first language in your workplace.

–   Utilize our upcoming Recovery Ally Training on your campus to educate about the importance of language.

–   Do a recovery messaging training with your students in recovery and recovery allies.

–   Require conference proposals and presentations to not use stigmatizing language just like NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals

Whether you’re a person in recovery, a recovery ally, or just a friend or family member of someone with the disease of addiction, it falls on all of us to shift the way we talk about SUD. It’s on us to make sure someone suffering doesn’t have to stay in the shadows. We need to continue to get these issues on the table, talk about them and continue to make strides in our communities. Stigma is not inherent, it’s taught. We can change that, one word at a time.

Rob Schilder Student Assistant, Collegiate Recovery Community, Person in long-term recovery

[1] Corrigan, P.W., Kuwabara, SA., O’Shaughnessy, J. (2009). The public stigma of mental illness and drug addiction: findings from a stratified random sample. Journal of Social Work. (9)(2):139-147.

[2] Barry, C.L., McGinty, E.E., Pescosolido, B.A., Goldman, H.H. (2014). Stigma, discrimination, treatment effectiveness, and policy: public views about drug addiction and mental illness. Psychiatric Services. (65)(10): 1269-1272.

[3] Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. (2016). 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: detailed tables-prevalence estimates, standard errors, p values, and sample sizes. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD.

[4] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Multiple Cause of Death, 1999-2015 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2016. Extracted by ONDCP from http://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html on December 8, 2016.

The blog post below was originally posted by our friends at the Ohio Peace Collaborative and was written by Sarah Nerad, our Director of Recovery and Rob Schilder, student assistant at OSU’s Collegiate Recovery Community.

We can no longer debate the harsh reality. The opioid crisis is real. Fentanyl and heroin overdoses continue to rise at an alarming rate. From 2003-2015 2,590 people unintentionally overdosed from opioids in the state of Ohio.  This is 84.9% of all accidental overdoses recorded over that time. Recovery supports are becoming more and more important with each passing day. Now more than ever, we need to build out the continuum of care and invest in recovery support services. Whether it’s the language we use, the way in which we view substance use disorders (SUD) in the court of law, or the gaps that we begin to fill, changes need to be made. 89% of people who need treatment are not getting the help they need. Work continues to be done on educating society on one simple message; recovery is possible.

Recovery language is vital to shifting the tides at work. What we say and how we say it has the power to help or hurt. This disease will continue to be viewed through a criminal justice lens as long as we continue to talk about it as such. Derogatory terms like “addict”, “drunk” and “junkie” have negative connotations that have been engrained in us for decades. We see this as criminal behavior because that is what we were taught. If we continue the work of shifting towards proper recovery language then together we can shift the culture towards healing our communities.

“People suffering from a SUD are not bad people trying to get good, they are sick people trying to get well.” Words that echo through recovery circles and treatment centers across the country. Yet incarceration still seems to be the go to for government spending. Studies show that if just 10% of drug related incarcerations were differed to treatment, lifetime societal net benefits reflect $8.5 billion relative to baseline. And if that percentage climbs to the still reasonable 40%, we could see net benefits of $22.5 billion dollars. Treatment is not only cheaper, it is also more effective. In New York state, they saw a 21% decrease in reconviction rates when people received a treatment alternative! While treatment is effective and results in cost savings, it isn’t the end of the continuum.

What we do after initial treatment is paramount to providing those with SUD a continuum of care. Studies show that the change of returning to use rates diminish the longer the individual maintains their recovery. After just five years of remission, return to use rates drop below 15%. The goal here is to ensure that individuals have access to a continuum of care and ongoing recovery supports so they can reach this critical five year mark. There are many ways to foster and develop SUD recovery. Whether its outpatient treatment programs, medically-assisted treatment (MAT) or collegiate recovery programs (CRP), all of these fall on the continuum of care for SUD, and all have been proven effective. Programs like the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery (HECAOD) and CRPs across the country look to foster an environment that promotes the expansion to the continuum of care for people recovering from SUD.

While this crisis may seem daunting, there are things we can do right now to make an impact. Firstly, we should incorporate recovery language in our lives in order to help destigmatize the jaded view of SUD. Treatment is not only more humane than incarceration, it’s more effective. Additionally, look to support legislation that encourages treatment over incarceration and taking a public health approach to ending this epidemic rather than a criminal justice approach. Lastly, we need to continue investing in recovery supports! Programs all across the country are making an impact into the opioid crisis. A SUD is a not a character problem, it’s a community problem. We rise and fall as one, and if we take the proper steps we can all recover, together.