Originally Posted by
Still Waters 
I see a lot of denial in this thread..which isn't surprising. Addiction and alcoholism is brutal, it's tragic, and it destroys people and families despite a massive support system.
I can certainly understand the knee jerk reaction of "we need to throw more money and more more more at it". But that feeling flies in the face of the fact that no addict and no alcoholic ever gets sober until they are ready to do it for themselves.
Where does compassion become enabling? Does ignoring the very real facts about addiction and alcoholism (crime, violence, abuse and neglect) enable that very behavior? I believe it does.
Funny, I don't see denial here, and I honestly don't appreciate you trying to lump everyone into some kind of negative generalization. I think most of us understand perfectly well that an addict must come to terms on their own, must choose to get better. I certainly do, yet you assume I don't. Your responses are suggesting that many folks here are simply "too stupid to get it." Not really what I want from a support board.
I started this thread in hopes of garnering support against what I honestly feel is a narrow and cruel stigma. Sometimes, it beats you down.
We get it. Trust me. We get that addicts have to come to things on their own and we get that we must detach, follow our "3 C's to a tee." But, does that make the foul attitude of a certain few any less harmful at times to our own recovery.
Stop making assumptions here. Nobody is ignoring the facts.