Breaking Down the Stigma of Addiction: A Witness’ Story Through Art

En Espanol [CC]

In this video created by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, artist and advocate William Stoehr shares his story of losing a loved one to an opioid overdose. He describes a personal struggle, which unfolds into a revealing conversation inspired by art and a passion to combat the stigma of addiction. Painting a picture of hope, he reminds everyone there is support and no one is alone.
If you or a loved one need help, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 800-662-HELP (4357), which provides 24-hour free and confidential referrals and information about mental and/or substance use disorders, prevention, treatment, and recovery in English and Spanish.

[jessicagenemarsh]

You have done an incredible job of capturing the feelings many have about addiction. Your sister is so fortunate to have such a compassionate brother and I'm very sorry for your loss. Your paintings are honoring not only your sister but recognize so many others who feel trapped, ashamed, judged and as if they must hide this huge burden that is present in all aspects of their lives. I hope that in the future our society will have a better understanding of addiction and treat this as more of a health issue than moral failing.

[Ikramkhan-sqxf]

May God rest your sister's soul, what you did for your sister and country is commendable.

[lindabroseghini]

Thank you for sharing. This is a beautiful gift that you share. So bravely spoken with such valuable information. I list my sister, and I've spent the last 25 years trying to save a loved one. Your pictures definitely describe the pain, hardships, and loss we all feel.

[ThatTexasGirl]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I came across your video during some research for a paper I'm writing and I just felt I needed to thank you for your message. (I was addicted to prescription pain medication years ago) Your art is as beautiful as your heart.

[johnhughes]

The use of compassion, from a place of love, from medical personnel as well as caregivers, enables the patient to feel valued. A valued person begins to join conversations about problems in the community and themselves. Eventually, they will fit in the mainstream and the community will understand they belong in the mainstream.

[ericawang]

So much communicated in the eyes of these portraits...

[Angell_Lee]

Thank you for making those arts, beautiful message xo

[mad-b]

Well put, I was addicted to a few different drugs over the space of twenty odd years, I now believe if cannabis was legal, I would of never gone down the road of hard drug addiction, I suffer with complex ptsd an guess I used hard drugs to escape the fact I was dealing with crazy violent trauma, I researched cannabis a lot more coz it helps with my ptsd symptoms, Cannabis got a lot of different strains that can do different things, Some stimulate an some sends you too sleep, And above all cannabis is not toxic for the human body like hard drugs an opiates, Pain killers are the worst of all, My addiction to oxycodone give me the worst withdrawals ever, Worse than heroin it's self, Ironic that, Plus pain KILLER, It's in the name aswell, It's not just pain opiates kill, I have studied cannabis a lot, The fact the human body has got an endo-cannabinoid system and cannabis helps the body create homeostasis tells me cannabis is actually good and beneficial for the human body, A lot of illnesses are treated with cannabis, Not a cure but a treatment to relief an reducing certain illnesses, CB1 and CB2 receptors is all you have to research, But homeostasis is what the human body needs, An cannabis helps balance homeostasis, Like I said all the addictions on hard drugs I have had wouldn't of happened if I was able to access cannabis oils an maybe I would see more of my old age, I feel like I am 60 at in my 40s from drug addiction, The stigma around hard drug addiction an even simple cannabis use is surrounded by stigma through the so called war on drugs, It's not a war on drugs, It's a war on the burden put apon the governments, Namely America with people suffering mental health an uses drugs as a result, So Nixon worst criminal of all created laws to lock these people up, An make money from locking these people who happened to be drug addicts oh and are poor, In turn created a war on drugs, An to think cannabis is now legal in the very first place cannabis was made illegal, But is still illegal in the UK, Utter madness, While GW pharmaceuticals continues to make billions from cannabis exportation while sick kids parents got to pay grands a month for thier sick child, All for cannabis oils, Making drugs valuable inside laws created by the government is hiding a lot of problems with drug addiction, Just legalise cannabis an let us grow our own medication, People will do drugs either way, So instead of locking people up for drug addiction, An all the stigma around drugs, Help the people out instead, Legalisation of cannabis will do so much for people with toxic drug addiction....

[aaronwatter]

You gotta love how taking drugs without permission is considered "abuse", but criminalizing people who use drugs is considered in-line with "treatment". But, I guess that's what happens when you have a "chronic relapsing brain disease".

[ronrendon]

AMY REFUSED TO GO TO REHAB AND SHE DIED. EMMA WENT TO REHAB AND SHE DIED. TO THIS DAY STIGMA IS KILLING PEOPLE.

[cyrilio]

It would help if you changed the name of your organization! Drug abuse is super stigmatizing term.

[xObscureMars]

NIDA talks about language and then picks an artist who uses negative terminology to discuss addiction such as "relapse". they should have edited this a little better.