In May of 2006 HBO, USA Today and The Gallup Poll asked US adults, who had an immediate family member with a drug or alcohol addiction whether they thought addiction was a disease.
Three-quarters of U.S. adults who have a family member suffering from a drug or alcohol addiction think that addiction is a disease.
Whether you agree or disagree alcoholism was first recognised as a disease as early as 1785, by Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence and physician of George Washington's Army.
In his widely dispersed essay on "the effects of ardent spirits," Rush clearly called intemperance a disease and, an addiction.
