Dr. Adams:
In a post on Twitter today, 4/25/24. you write about how and why you’ve “…completely stopped watching cable news as I’m absolutely disgusted by the nonstop – and nonsense – political ads…” Fair enough. We agree about the proliferation of both the number and content of political ads. Where I disagree with you, however, is how you begin your post. You say, “I’m a news junkie…” Are you really a news “junkie”? Do you require ever-increasing amounts of news to sustain an equilibrium? Does your news consumption lead to negative consequences in your life? Do you continue to engage in news consumption and opinion writing despite ever more negative consequences, possibly flirting with death? It's your casual and easy use of the word “junkie” that I call to question. I write, not to scold, but to encourage you to think about how easily this pejorative for someone with substance use disorder slips into our daily discourse. It festers and amplifies the shame and stigma we readily heap upon those suffering from substance use. You may be a news fiend, an enthusiast, or some other more appropriate term. You are decidedly not a junkie.
Since the loss of my 24-year-old son to an accidental heroin overdose in December of 2012, I have spent a great deal of my time on addiction advocacy. If you Google Bill Williams – New York Times you’ll find two Op-Ed pieces that will help you understand what propels my advocacy. Hence this message to you. You and I actually participated and presented at a Health and Human Services event in Washington event in Washington in December of 2017. I got to see for myself what a caring and compassionate man you are.
You may go here to discover talks my wife, Margot Head, and I gave at a U.S. Senate Addiction Forum back in 2014 - http://bit.ly/1zgE7O3 Seventeen minutes total, should you have the time. I also host a monthly radio program on addiction issues on my local Catskills NPR station. Consider it opinion sharing in another medium. You can find it here: https://wjffradio.org/thekingfisherproject/
I trust I am clear that I write not to chide or rebuke. Indeed, I have much respect both for your willingness to express your points of view and the content of those expressions. Even the best of us, and I include myself here, write or inadvertently say things that perpetuate the stigma surrounding addiction. I write in the hope that I can enlist you as a continued agent of change. For that, much thanks.
Bill Williams
http://billwilliamsblog.blogspot.com/
The Where There's A Will Fund - http://bit.ly/Y0UXv3
http://twitter.com/BillEduTheater
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