How We Talk About "Addicts" Matters

Guest: Michael Botticelli, Executive Director of the Grayken Center for Addiction, Boston Medical Center, Former Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy An estimated 21 million Americans over the age of 12 are addicted to alcohol or other drugs. But only ten percent of them are getting treatment. Would that number improve if we talked about addiction differently? If, instead of calling someone an addict or a user, we referred to them as “a person with a substance use disorder”?