Being confronted with misinformation about drug addiction is a daily occurrence when trying to shed light in alcoholism and drug addiction. Perhaps the hardest thing in the world is explaining addiction and addiction recovery to people unaffected by the disease. It really is hard for folks to ‘get it’. Perhaps exploding some myths may help. Exploring Myths about Drug Abuse by Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D. , Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health Myth: Drug addiction is voluntary behavior. A person starts out as an occasional drug user, and that is a voluntary decision. But as times passes, something happens, and that person goes from being a voluntary drug user to being a compulsive drug user. Why? Because over time, continued use of addictive drugs changes your brain — at times in dramatic, toxic ways, at others in more subtle ways, but virtually always in ways that result in compulsive and even uncontrollable drug use. Myth: More than anything else, drug addiction is a character flaw. Drug addiction is a brain disease. Every type of drug of abuse has its own individual mechanism for changing how the brain functions. But regardless of which drug a person is addicted to, many of the effects it has on the brain are similar: they range from changes in the molecules and cells that make up the brain, to mood changes, to changes in memory processes and in such motor skills as walking and talking. And these changes have a huge influence on all aspects of a person’s behavior. The drug becomes the single most powerful motivator in a drug abuser’s existence. He or she will do almost anything for the drug. This comes about because drug use has changed the individual’s brain and its functioning in critical ways

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