Discrimination against people with substance use disorders is a form of discrimination against people with this disease. In the United States, people with substance use disorders are often blamed for their disease, which is often seen as a moral failing, due to a lack of public understanding about substance use disorders being diseases of the brain with 40-60% heritability. People with substance use disorders are likely to be stigmatized, whether in society or healthcare.
In the process of stigmatization, people with substance use disorders are
stereotyped as having a particular set of undesirable traits, in turn causing other individuals to act in a fearful or prejudicial manner toward them.[1][2][3]
^Corrigan P, Schomerus G, Shuman V, Kraus D, Perlick D, Harnish A, Kulesza M, Kane-Willis K, Qin S, Smelson D (January 2017). "Developing a research agenda for understanding the stigma of addictions Part I: Lessons from the Mental Health Stigma Literature". The American Journal on Addictions. 26 (1): 59–66. doi:10.1111/ajad.12458. PMID27779803. Social psychologists have distinguished the largely private experience of stigma in general—stereotypes and prejudice—from the more public, behavioral result which is discrimination.[11] Stereotypes are harmful and disrespectful beliefs about a group. Table 1 lists several examples of stereotypes applied to people with addictions including blame, dangerousness, and unpredictability.
^Corrigan PW, Schomerus G, Shuman V, Kraus D, Perlick D, Harnish A, Kulesza M, Kane-Willis K, Qin S, Smelson D (January 2017). "Developing a research agenda for reducing the stigma of addictions, part II: Lessons from the mental health stigma literature". The American Journal on Addictions. 26 (1): 67–74. doi:10.1111/ajad.12436. PMID27875626.
^McLaughlin D, Long A (October 1996). "An extended literature review of health professionals' perceptions of illicit drugs and their clients who use them". Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 3 (5): 283–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2850.1996.tb00127.x. PMID9004621.