I actually am an addict (heroin, 4 years sober) and besides my day job as a developer I'm also on the board of a non profit that is about helping addicts and their families (you may have seen me on CNN a few weeks ago talking about it in fact). So I have personal experience with this and I also have access to some really smart people doing research on this exact thing. I can tell you that this article is true but dangerous.

I've been arguing for years that the same traits that make people like me addicts are the same ones that can help us achieve more than what "normal" people can. It's a blessing and curse. More often it's a curse. Before I get into what's wrong with this story, I'll say what's right. Addicts tend to be impatient, impulsive, risk takers who often feel more vividly than others. We're often perfectionists and harder on ourselves than anyone else would be. We can also be incredibly insecure and many of us self medicate. We internalize a lot of negative feelings about ourselves and choose a path of self destruction or a pursuit of perfectionism in ourselves. We can take our impatience and work harder, faster to achieve what we believe (many would argue mistakenly) should be accomplished right now. Right now doesn't have to literally mean that but it does mean sooner than what anyone else would expect from themselves. Failure to achieve this makes us continue using. The frustration makes us give up and instead just use drugs to feel the satisfaction we would have felt from any accomplishment. Our perfectionism lets us pay great attention to detail. Our desire for a dopamine rush can allow us to take on great challenges and see them through to the end. And our tendency to be risk takers let's us take on goals with very uncertain outcomes. In fact, I'd argue that an addict mind is the perfect kind of mind for a startup founder. It's the kind of mind prone to taking big risks, working fast, and craves the rush of satisfaction, the sooner the better.

But addicts don't start out that way. Most underachieve. That's because we live in a society that isn't set up in a way that helps us foster our "gifts". Addicts need to learn how to channel these impulses for their own good and that's tough because humans are wired to take the path of least resistance and in the case of addicts, that path is of escapism.

The article is wrong when it suggests that maybe we should allow addicts access to various substances instead of stigmatizing them. This line of thinking only takes into account the physical dependency aspect of addiction. Addiction is just as much about physical dependency as it is a way of thinking. What do you do about gambling addicts or sex addicts then? Let them gamble wi monopoly money and have sex still? Allowing an addict to continue using will not help them. It may prevent the spread of disease and allow them to function in society but it doesn't allow them to live up to their potential.

Abstinence is the best treatment. Addicts should not be stigmatized. It is a real disease. We should make every effort to get them help, and help them stay clean. What we're missing now are programs that take an addict's natural tendencies and channel them in such a way that it benefits them. That's a huge challenge. After four years clean I still struggle and have my moments where I feel like going out to the west side of Chicago and scoring. These times usually coincide with me trying to cope with something or accomplish a challenging task. The sad thing is that I don't think most addicts can get the kind of help I'm proposing even if it were widely available because you really can't spot an addict until they begin using and are already on their way to destruction. It seems that only after they've been to that low point that they can harness those "bad" tendencies for good. I'm really glad this article was written. This is the first time I've seen this idea put forward and it really makes me feel vindicated. The danger in this idea however is the part that talks about simply allowing addicts access to their drug of choice so they can function. Also, just putting forth the idea that addicts are neurodiverse runs the risk of giving addicts an excuse for their behavior and an excuse to continue with it. No matter what, the consequences of ones drug use and their behavior while using is not acceptable under any circumstances. Addicts do need our empathy and help but at the same time it's important to make sure they know that what they're doing is not acceptable and needs to stop.

(By the way, you'll probably see me as a new account - I've actually been around here as user billpatrianakos for over a year. My other account got hell banned last week for some reason and I was so pissed I almost didn't come back but I saw this post and just had to comment on it)