Paramount Theatre
Addiction Is Not a Lifestyle Choice
RECEIVED Tue., May 10, 2005
Dear AC,
Please tell me you don't think addiction is a lifestyle choice. That's like saying bipolar disorder is a lifestyle choice. I saw that you stuck a headline on Michael Hankin's letter that seems to be saying so [“Postmarks,” May 6]. No one chooses addiction. Someone who picks up a cigarette/cigar is simply choosing to smoke ... unless it's Clinton. When your kid tries heroin at a party you think he or she is "choosing" an addictive lifestyle? Come on, addiction hijacks the brain, i.e., you ain't makin' choices, they're being made for you.
Please tell me you don't think addiction is a lifestyle choice. That's like saying bipolar disorder is a lifestyle choice. I saw that you stuck a headline on Michael Hankin's letter that seems to be saying so [“Postmarks,” May 6]. No one chooses addiction. Someone who picks up a cigarette/cigar is simply choosing to smoke ... unless it's Clinton. When your kid tries heroin at a party you think he or she is "choosing" an addictive lifestyle? Come on, addiction hijacks the brain, i.e., you ain't makin' choices, they're being made for you.
David Burks