Clean Quotes

“teenagers are almost a different species than the rest of us, particularly in social situations.”
― David Sheff, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy

“The main problems with America’s addiction-treatment system stem from its roots in the archaic notion that addiction is a choice, not a disease. One common symptom of the disease of addiction is relapse. Kicking an addict out of treatment for relapsing is like kicking a cancer patient out of treatment when a tumor metastasizes.”
― David Sheff, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy

“Citing the University of Pittsburgh study, the New York Times noted, “The average adolescent is exposed to approximately 84 references to illicit substance use per day and 591 references per week, or 30,732 references per year. . . . Studies have long shown that media messages have a pronounced impact on childhood risk behaviors.” A study of sixteen thousand teenagers in six European countries found that the more drinking kids saw in movies, the more likely they were to binge drink.”
― David Sheff, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy

“Once and for all, people must understand that addiction is a disease. It’s critical if we’re going to effectively prevent and treat addiction. Accepting that addiction is an illness will transform our approach to public policy, research, insurance, and criminality; it will change how we feel about addicts, and how they feel about themselves. There’s another essential reason why we must understand that addiction is an illness and not just bad behavior: We punish bad behavior. We treat illness.”
― David Sheff, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy