Addiction is Generational Trauma

Addiction is a generational trauma perpetuated through eons by humanity.
Any drug use really is a learned behavior passed down from generation to generation. It gets tricky because a lot of ancient drug use was for mystic or religious purposes but the idea of alcohol and drugs being a means to help people cope with the harsh realities of life can be identified in any time period.

And in a lot of cases it was basically state sponsored:

Sailors got a rum ration from the crown. The Egyptians gave their slaves beer. Why? First it was to calm their nerves so they wouldn't abandon battle post too early. Secondly it was allow them to party and forget abotu the attrocities and suffering of their lives. And if you are a slave or a sailer, what are you going to do refuse the Rum and Beer? What other options are you turning to? Possibly religinon, which might embrace sunstance use it's self for it's own purposes.  Substances are a major piece of society controling the masses. 

In fact, the rise of agriculture, and the develo[ment of civic communities and government, and the use  mass production and proliferation of substances all evolved together to give use civilization. Food, Power, and Drugs are the three legs of the agrarian revolution. 

Civilization has always leaned on (if not fully relied on) using alcohol and drugs to take the edge off the trauma it was inflicting on society. Naturally some groups and communities adopted and incorporated such practices into their familial and cultural identities.
 
Obviously bad things can come of drug and alchol use. Once a person or a family takes on substance use as a means to cope, they have to justify the ongoing use as the only means of surviving their considerable suffering. Most of all they have to justify this to their children.  And so the learned beahvior of substance abuse is handed down as a necessity due to the conditions of the world. Political, economic,  or ethnic discrimination only solidifies this conclusion. 

Of course embracing this conclusion that drugs and alcohol are a required  and deserved  means of coping means that the problems they cause are repeated and perpetuated generation to generation as well. The tide of this generational trauma goes back as far as family history can recall. That is a massive counter weight against any type of rehab or substance abuse prevention program. It essentially means only those that no longer identify with their families and communities can have reasonable hope of overcoming drug abuse. And even when they cut family ties, the loss of beleonging and support only strengthens the necessity and deserving of substances to cope. 

If that is the case then we need to end the generational trauma that civilization has wrought upon society to help future generations break the cycle, not just shame people for using irresponsibly, when they are only using the ways to cope that civilization orginally intended.