TW for addiction

So a couple of Johnny supports rn are in my mentions trying to down play his drug use to make it seem like he doesn't have a drug problem and never did. I get the good intentions behind this but lemme make a quick thread explaining why this is so dangerous:
I can provide sources for everything I'm about to say if you want sources. Johnny has been open about his drug use for decades. He says he started stealing his mom's meds at age 12 and has since tried just about every drug out there. Now does that mean someone is addicted? No...
However the REASON behind why he did this stuff is the important bit. Most kids would try drugs at parties. Johnny did it to self medicate. He has said he's never done drugs to party. He does it to "calm the circus" aka get his brain to stfu.
I think a couple years ago he was finally diagnosed with ADHD depression and anxiety which are probably what caused the "circus" he's describing along with childhood abuse that he has also described. Thats why he would self medicate.
Now, without getting into too much detail, I've been in the same mindset so I know what im saying when I say that doing drugs to self medicate can lead to addiction so fast without you even noticing. Just because he's never used the word addiction doesn't mean he wasn't addicted
The reason is the drugs make you feel better so you wanna keep doing them every time your life gets difficult. That is literally addiction. No he did not do drugs everyday for 40 years. It goes on and off depending on how mentally well you're doing.
From my understanding he was very addicted in the early 90s and then got clean when his daughter was born but then relapsed once he got with amber for obvious reasons (she caused mental torment, making him want to self medicate to get it to stop)
I can understand why some of you might not want to face this fact. The media has turned this idea into "JD is a raging alcoholic who is never sober" which obviously isn't true. But pretending he doesn't have an addiction increases stigma just as much.
Saying he's not addicted and then getting defensive when someone says "no he's admitted to it" proves that there is still this underlying idea that addiction=bad, abusive, angry, irresponsible, junkie and that is just not true.
By denying someone's addiction just to make them look better you are increasing stigma and promoting this stereotype. If instead you were to say yes he had an addiction but that doesnt mean he's a bad person you are humanizing the disease and also squashing Amber's/MSM's argument
Hope this makes sense??? Johnny often uses very poetic language when talking about this stuff so it can easily be misinterpreted. Also I suck at explaining it but yeah there's your thread. Unless you have questions thats all I'm saying. Good night peeps ✌
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