Making the decision to get help for my addiction was one of the hardest - but best decisions I ever made. When I arrived at the rehab centre I had been referred to I had no idea what to expect and in retrospect I don't remember much from the first session I had with my counsellor. In saying so, one sentence she said has always stuck in my mind: addiction is an illness not a badness and a drug addiction may make you do bad things but you are not a bad person.

When I first came to rooms of N.A I have to admit I wasn't completely sold on the ides that addiction is a disease. Part of me felt so relieved to hear that I was "sick" but another part of me thought "what a cop-out". But the more people I spoke to and the more meetings I went to, the more I slowly began to understand why addiction is a disease. I (like any other person with a chronic disease) have to manage my disease on a daily basis. I have to take my medicine (NA meetings, talking to a counsellor, calling my sponsor)so that I don't get sick again. So I fully believe that addiction is a disease but one that doesn't have to kill me!