A 39 year old baseball fan, Shannon Stone, recently fell to his death from the stands while trying to catch a ball for his son at a Texas Rangers game. The ball was thrown by Josh Hamilton, a player with a history of crack addiction. So what are people most concerned with? The idea that the death may cause Hamilton to relapse!
A headline in The International Business Times reads Josh Hamilton: Could Tragic Death of Fan Lead to Drug/Alcohol Relapse? and the article states:
But now, after one of the most inexplicable tragedies in Major League history, it may become tough for Hamilton to deal with.
Texas [Rangers] president Nolan Ryan said Hamilton is “very distraught” over the death.
Could Hamilton fall off the bandwagon over this?
And a sports blog at gather.com had this to say:
To think that a ball he threw has caused a young father to lose his life has got to be heartbreaking to this baseball player. Hopefully he will seek immediate counseling so that no backsliding with regard to his drug problem takes place.
Hopefully Josh Hamilton will come to understand that he didn’t cause this man to lose his life. It was simply a horrible accident that could have happened at any ball field at any time, no matter who was throwing the baseball.
And yet another story in the Boston Herald discusses Hamilton’s emotional struggle in depth, and ponders indirectly whether it will cause him to relapse, then goes on to assure us that he’s praying and receiving emotional support. You know what none of these articles mention? The fact that the Rangers have set up a memorial fund for the Stone family which fans can donate to online or via kiosks in their stadium.
Besides being entirely insulting, the media reaction to this whole incident brings up the issue of relapse. First of all, the word “relapse” implies that there is a disease for one to relapse into. So in my mind, relapse doesn’t exist, because there is no disease to relapse into – there is only the choice to return to rampant substance use. The discussions of whether or not Hamilton will relapse, which revolve around his mind-state, thus tend to confirm my view. These writers are quick to assure Hamilton that it could’ve happened to anyone and that it’s not his fault. And this is true. But it gives us a window into the inescapable truth that many people use drugs to regulate their emotions, it’s a fact that can’t be denied, and the question isn’t really whether the imaginary disease of addiction will take over and cause relapse – the question is whether Hamilton will choose to use drugs as a tool to regulate his emotions and blot out feelings of guilt, or whether he will use some other less destructive means of addressing any emotional distress he may be experiencing. There is a conscious choice here between diverse methods of coping with life struggles – and the media, however obsessed they are with the “disease of addiction”, have betrayed their better instincts with their discussions of how Hamilton will choose to deal with his emotions.
Substance use and addiction is a choice, like any other human behavior. There are behaviors that effectively address our needs, and there are less effective behaviors which may also cause more problems. People make bad choices all the time – using substances to assuage guilt or other feelings is just one among many choices we all face every day. There’s no need to complicate things with talk of an imaginary disease.
If you knew anything about addiction it is a disease. No different then cancer. Addiction is killing this county. Dr’s, Lawyers, Police, Fireman and every proffession in this world has members that suffer from addiction. I realise that the victim in this is not Josh Hamilton. To knock Hamilton saying he “had a choice” to use drugs shows me how ignorant the writer of this article is>
Thanks Frank,
There are many things that doctors, lawyers, police, and firemen do – such as bowling, watching television, scuba diving, working out, etc. are these things diseases? What I’m getting at is that you offered this point as if it’s some sort of argument for the existence of addiction as a disease – but this is unsound reasoning. The fact that many people from all walks of life do a particular thing (such as engaging in problematic patterns of substance use) is not evidence that the given activity is a disease.
Moreover, if I was to give your talking point the time of day, I could easily dredge up a ton of statistics which show that people who are more educated, of higher socioeconomic status, etc – have lower rates of addiction. So while people from all walks of life do indeed engage in problematic substance use, they aren’t equally represented. This is because these people have alternative behaviors which they can more readily turn to than those with less life successes. That is, a plethora of activities from which they can “choose” is instantly available to them. What’s more, these people have more confidence in themselves and their own power of choice – because they’ve made so many other successful choices. Neither highly educated people, nor uneducated people are powerless – but those who have less successes in life have less of a track record upon which to base their self-esteem and feelings of self-efficacy – and thus they’re more likely to feel powerless – and those who see themselves as powerless, are less likely to make empowered choices.
-Steven
You are ignorant. The American Medical Association (AMA), which I’m sure is a much better source on the matter of addiction than yourself, clearly defines drug dependencies as a disease. It is a chronic disorder related to the brain. Before you start puking up stories about your personal beliefs versus what is fact, why don’t you take a look in the mirror and ask yourself why you would even waste your time writing a story like this… Because it’s puke garbage from a “nobody” that’s trying to get some attention. A “nobody” that wakes up in the morning with one goal…to try to prove to themselves that they’re not just another one of the growing army of hack bloggers…which is what you are. Keep mascarading as a journalist if it makes you feel good. You’re certainly not qualified to speak on sports or medicine. Clean Slate…lol. Guaranteed that you’re living with mom and dad because you don’t make enough money to take care of yourself. Grow up.
This comment is pure gold. I wish I’d had this a few weeks back when I wrote my post about fallacious Appeals To Authority. I’ll be sure to edit the post to include your comment when I get the chance.
I’m less interested in what the AMA has to say than I am in what you think proves the claim that addiction is a disease. Would you care to fill me in on that? Have you considered it? Or do you just blindly accept the claims of any old trade guild?
Thanks for providing a wonderful example to my readers of why exactly the disease myth remains so popular,
Steven Slate