Thanks to the efforts of our Executive Director, the North Idaho community of educators and healthcare professionals were treated to an all-day event with Dr. Kevin McCauley and came away with more understanding and empathy to what triggers an addict in crossing over that dark line into the world of addiction.

But more importantly, that addiction is as much a disease as diabetes or cancer.
Hosted in Naples, Idaho on Jan. 16, Dr. Kevin McCauley spoke before over 100 people at Northwest Academy’s Summit Lodge--including teens attending our wilderness program along with others from Boulder Creek Academy and Northwest Academy --where he passionately argued that addiction is not a choice, as many physicians believe, but a disease.

"There are very good arguments against calling addiction a disease," he said. "Real diseases like diabetes, many doctors say, aren’t someones’ choices. They also claim addicts can quit anytime. But proponents of the “choice” argument not only show a failure of empathy; they do not understand the complete picture of addiction or the nature of the disease."

McCauley maintains addiction is clearly a brain disease, and drugs of abuse attack what he calls the “reward centers” of the mid-brain.

"When drugs or alcohol become survival for life itself for and addict, that’s when the line is crossed for addiction," he said.
But what--in McCauley’s view stemming from his years of sobriety treatment--causes crossing that very fine line?
He’s convinced beyond any doubt its severe stress.
"I’m talking about major stress that sticks around and doesn’t go away," he said. "We all don’t come to the same table with the same coping mechanisms, or even the same brain."
It’s this unbearable build-up of stress, McCauley contends, that this causes intense craving. 
I believe it’s the presence of craving alone that defeats the “choice” argument. Even if addicts aren’t using, they are craving, and within that craving there is intense suffering."
It’s also McCauley’s contention that because addiction is a disease, you don’t put people suffering from it behind bars. To do so, he says, is criminal.
Approximately, 8.2 million have been incarcerated for addiction in the U.S.
"That is a great moral evil, and this cannot go on," he said. "It must be fought."
With the advances in treating addiction over the last several years, the successful track record for sobriety fills McCauley with renewed hope.

"Once addiction becomes a disease, addicts become patients," he said. "When we adhere to this, we will have a more understanding, safer and humane world where we can come up with real, workable treatments. It is something I honestly feel can save the world."

Dr. Kevin McCauley has lectured throughout the world providing information for people struggling with or recovering from addiction as well as to healthcare professionals and the public. A graduate from the Medical College of Pennsylvania and a former U.S.Navy flight surgeon, he provides the AddictionDoctor.com website as a service for those seeking information