Since you asked, I don’t think that the news media and journalism at large, is the proper forum for making societal changes in our culture. How we define and describe addiction and other social issues is not merely the purview of journalists. I think there is already way too much whitewashing of critical problems where the media tries so hard to be fair that they entirely misinform the public. If a public official is caught in lie, call it a lie, not a misstatement of fact.

Personally, I am not in favor of soft selling the horror of addiction. My youngest spent years battling heroin addiction. We shouldn’t make it nice for people.