Sure, by telling someone that they “have addiction,” which is essentially like “having schizophrenia,” we help destigmatize their condition. It’s not their fault that they suffer from addiction, we can say, and so their inability to stop drug use isn’t their fault. But doing this also undermines the possibility of taking responsibility for their own recovery—it undermines their agency altogether. The casualty of the disease model, according to this line of criticism, is our ability to recognize those with addiction as full persons, able to exercise judgment.
