No More “Addicts?” How One N.H. City Wants To Overhaul Your Addiction Vocabulary
Nashua’s Health Department wants you to stop using the word “addict.”
“We need to talk about substance use disorder like the disease that it is,” health educator Aly McKnight told a captive audience of thirty or so in the basement of Nashua Public Library last month. She pointed to a list of “stigmatizing” words projected onto a screen. “Alcoholic,” “junkie,” even “addiction” should be avoided, it said.