I’d be better off with a brain tumor. That way you wouldn’t put off getting me the help I need. You’d understand that my condition is only going to get worse and not to hope it will go away by itself. If I had a brain tumour you’d understand I need treatment not indifference.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America advertising campaign

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America wants you to know that drug addiction is a disease, comparable to AIDS, cancer, heart disease or a brain tumour. And until it is recognised as such, addicts will continue to be stigmatised, not receive the attention their problem deserves and thus not come forward for help. In fact, right now you’d be better off having those diseases instead of a drug addiction.

As part of their “Hope, Help & Healing: Using the Media to connect people with help for addiction” campaign, a series of advertisements and a public service announcement video containing this message will go national, after being piloted last year in Houston and Cincinnati.

It is sure to annoy or anger quite a few people, including:

• those who don’t think it is a disease and would note that, unlike cancer or AIDS patients, addicts have managed to give up with limited or even no treatment;
• critics of the War on Drugs who see the illegality of drugs as a major reason why addicts are stigmatised and hesitate to come forward for treatment; and,
• AIDS, cancer, heart disease and brain tumour patients who’d rather take their chances with a drug addiction that others have managed to kick (and not die from).

For more about the campaign and the arguments for and against it, see this article from the Houston Chronicle. Below are all the poster ads, with the “quotes” on them duplicated below. The video can be accessed from the Chronicle article.

It’d be better if I had cancer. Then you wouldn’t tell me that what I’m going through is just a phase. You wouldn’t see my condition as a lack of willpower but the disease that it truly is. There would be telethons, walks and campaigns to raise funds to end it. If I had cancer you’d understand I need treatment, not a lecture.

If only I had AIDS. Then you would have some idea of what I was up against. You would see famous people wearing ribbons and speaking freely about my condition. You would walk, run and bike for greater awareness of my disease. If I had AIDS, you would understand that I need treatment, not scorn.

I’d rather have heart disease. That way you wouldn’t look at me with shame. You and I could talk openly about my problem. There would be no stigma. You could ask your friends how their family members got help. Insurance might cover it. If I had heart disease you would understand I need treatment, not hate.

I’d be better off with a brain tumor. That way you wouldn’t put off getting me the help I need. You’d understand that my condition is only going to get worse and not to hope it will go away by itself. If I had a brain tumour you’d understand I need treatment, not indifference.