“Addiction is a disease — a treatable disease — and it needs to be understood.”

– Dr. Nora Volkow

Throughout  the last hundred years, scientists studying drug abuse fought against the powerful myths and misconceptions about the nature of alcoholism and addiction. When doctors began to study addictive behavior early in the 20th century, they believed addicts and alcoholics were morally flawed and lacked willpower. Those archaic views shaped the first fifty years of society’s responses to drug abuse, wanting to treat it as a choice in moral failing rather than a health problem, which led to an emphasis on break-down maintainence rather than preventative and therapeutic actions. Today, thanks to science (and according to TIME Magazine) our views and our responses to drug/alcohol abuse have shifted dramatically. Recent discoveries about how the brain works have changed our understanding of drug/alcohol abuse and revolutionized addiction treatment.