Opinion: What Portland got wrong about addiction (and Why New York should pay attention)

Hi. I’m Scott, and I’m an alcoholic.

I have lived the truth behind every flawed assumption, policy misfire and well-intentioned myth about addiction. I have walked through the depths of hell with suffering as my only companion. I know what lives there — and I know the way out.

Some draw a line between alcoholism and drug addiction, as if that changes the conversation. The only real difference is that alcoholics buy their drug at a liquor store instead of on a street corner. The behaviors, thought processes, emotional dysfunction and self-destruction are all the same. Alcohol just happens to be legal…

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