Dr. Keith Humphreys

do things they would not otherwise do.

I mean, like you're saying, you know, lying about lots of things that there's no, they normally wouldn't lie about.

Like, I promise I'll show up to the baseball game and watch you play your game.

Or, you know, yeah, I'm going to save up some money and we're going to get that, you know, the plumbing fixed, but I'm actually spending on drugs, those types of things.

And, you know, that hurts people.

And it's very important to acknowledge that because sometimes the language about the message that sometimes government, public health people have given about addiction as a disease sounds scolding to people who have been harmed by addicted people.

Like I'm saying, you know, we don't feel sorry for you.

We feel sorry for this person.

They're ill.

And, you know, it's almost like how dare you be angry at your mother?

She was ill.

It wasn't her fault.

It's like...

It still hurts, you know, it doesn't, you know, if someone who has dementia, you know, goes on an angry rant and says a lot of nasty things, it still hurts, it's still scary.

The fact that it's a disease doesn't change your experience, you know, as a person.

And so I'm always trying in public messaging to acknowledge that the pain is enormous.

It's really tough to live with an addicted person, it's hard.

That's right.

If you grow up with an addicted parent as a kid, you know, you won't understand all that anyway, right?

You just know, like, you're wanting...