# Why "Substance Abuse"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912 "2009-05-28T07:52:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/21 "2009-05-28T20:29:30Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > I don’t know that this fits, frankly. That guy I knew in college who huffed air conditioning refrigerant couldn’t have been addicted to the stuff as he had never done that before. > > That didn’t keep him from doing considerable damage to his lungs. > > Substance abuse seems descriptive enough. Generally I don’t go for PC language, but in this particular case it seems to me the terms drug abuse or addiction weren’t capturing the wide range of behavior swirling around the issue. yeah, but I would be very shocked if it were the first time that he had tried anything at all that would get him high. In other words I am guessing that at very least it was addict behavior. For example, I am an alcoholic (albeit a sober one). I have never consumed Listerine but if I did it would be alcoholic behavior. Not mouthwash abuse. I still think that the Abusive/responsible drinker is a false framing of things and ultimately serves to keep people ashamed and not getting help. My $.02. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/22 "2009-05-28T20:47:10Z")
Certainly - and addiction behavior is itself a useful term that describes a range of activities. It would be a mistake to use any of these terms to replace others when they would be better used to describe the whole range of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/23 "2009-05-28T22:38:52Z")
I think “substance abuse” is just one example of an annoying trend toward replacing specific words with general ones. You used to buy a computer from an electronics company and run a program on it. Later, you bought hardware and ran software on it. Now you buy a system from a technology provider and implement a solution. Eventually, you’ll buy an object from an entity and start a process. I’d also mention the use of “health care provider” instead of physician, but that is a concerted attempt to reduce the professional stature of physicians by lumping them in with nurses, medical technicians, therapists and the guy who cleans out the bedpans. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/24 "2009-05-28T22:42:07Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > Because if you describe things in terms of people who abuse things and people who use them responsibly you can continue to perpetuate the culture of shame that surrounds addiction. If you really want to call a spade a spade call it what it is. Addiction. But then what do you call it when people abuse something who aren’t addicted to it ? ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/25 "2009-05-28T22:47:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > But then what do you call it when people abuse something who aren’t addicted to it ? Recreation. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/26 "2009-05-28T22:49:07Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Oh, plenty of people who will gladly talk to you for hours after closing time about, “it’s natural, 'cause it comes from _the Earth_, ya know”. Okay, I was kind of excluding idiots from that pool of people. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/27 "2009-05-28T23:16:49Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > Because if you describe things in terms of people who abuse things and people who use them responsibly you can continue to perpetuate the culture of shame that surrounds addiction. If you really want to call a spade a spade call it what it is. Addiction. But there is a difference in behaviour, no? You can have two alcoholics, one of whom has been clean and sober for ten years, and the other who regularly goes on a bender. Saying that they’re both addicted to alcohol may be an accurate medical statement, but it does not mean that they are both abusing alcohol. The terms “alcohol abuse” and “substance abuse” describe a behaviour that is not necessarily captured by the word “addiction.” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/28 "2009-05-28T23:31:34Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Recreation. Recreation and abuse aren’t the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/29 "2009-05-28T23:38:33Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Oh, plenty of people who will gladly talk to you for hours after closing time about, “it’s natural, 'cause it comes from _the Earth_, ya know”. Natural vs. unnatural makes little sense. Mostly, the world over, governments distinguish “good drugs” from “bad drugs” by one single criterium: the bad drugs are the ones they can’t tax because the market’s underground (usually because of illegality). Still, smoking a weed that grows freely upon this planet, makes somewhat more sense to me than swallowing a weird ass pill that some flunked out chem student bollocksed up in his attic. I guess that puts me in the “natural” camp, somewhat. Then again, my country of residence probably has something to do with it, as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/30 "2009-05-28T23:43:41Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Recreation and abuse aren’t the same thing. I don’t see where I said it was. I was just answering your question in a general sense. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/31 "2009-05-29T00:15:33Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > I don’t see where I said it was. I was just answering your question in a general sense. But this : > [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > [QUOTE=Der Trihs] > But then what do you call it when people abuse something who aren’t addicted to it ? Recreation. [/QUOTE] Does look like equating the two to me. You have two people who drink wine, neither is alcoholic. One drinks a glass during dinner. The other binges on enough to render himself unconscious and damage his health; not because he’s addicted, but because he chooses to for one reason or another. Both are using alcohol for recreation, but only one is abusing. Calling both “recreation” loses an important distinction in what is happening. What term do we use to describe someone who abuses “substances”, but isn’t necessarily an addict ? “Substance abuser” is a usefully broad term to describe a broad spectrum of behavior. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/32 "2009-05-29T00:24:42Z")
Well, for what it’s worth, I agree with you. It’s semantics at this point and sorry if I made it confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912/33 "2009-05-29T13:41:07Z")
> [@Wargamer](#): > > Don’t most folks in recovery describe themselves as sober? (Whether it’s drugs/alcohol/whatever). Yes, but substance-free is still used. I had a friend in college who was an RA for the substance-free dorm. It was downright ethereal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-substance-abuse/497912.md?page=1)