Being addicted to something, for me, is one of the saddest things that can happen to a human being. I'm not talking about you really liking something, but that you still have control over it; as long as you have control, it's okay. Many of us enjoy drinking alcohol, smoking, playing computer and video games, and we are often labeled "addicts," but we still have control; we can stop, or rather, we know the exact time to stop using our addiction. But, although many addictions are a personal choice, at certain levels it becomes something close to an illness.

I can't say all the details, but I've seen people crying in pain and shame for being held hostage by an addiction. My aunt and grandmother smoked for years and years, an addiction that was very harmful to their health, and the result was that both died because of it. Cigarettes contributed greatly to the worsening of their health and, consequently, resulted in their deaths. My grandmother never managed to quit, but my aunt did, with the use of patches and willpower. I believe she managed to enjoy only about 2 or 3 years without smoking before she passed away.

In my view, it's complicated to decide if a person is naturally ill or addicted to something. There are people who are so broken inside that their only source of pleasure and relief is precisely the addiction. More controversially, masturbation is also an addiction that few people classify, but it happens in moments of tension, worry, when you feel defeated; it also becomes a momentary escape point, from which you even struggle to flee, but can't.

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Ultimately, with the analyses we can perform, it all starts as a choice and can then evolve into a disorder. Perhaps there's a period between this evolution, a time when the person can still choose to stop, but, in search of momentary pleasure or an escape valve, they decide on their own to continue, reaching a point where, if they try to stop, their body goes crazy and their mind becomes even more paranoid, because now, their whole being and even their soul misses what they were using.

Therefore, when a person is already gripped by their addiction as if there were no tomorrow, professional help and the support of friends and family are essential for the emotional and dignified rescue of that person. I think it all starts as a choice, and we keep thinking that we can control it, that we can stop whenever we want, until we realize that no, we can't stop and that everything is out of control. Whether legal or illegal drugs, everything can eventually crumble if you don't have the willpower to stop before becoming as dependent on your addiction as we are on air to breathe.

So, it's necessary to have calm and patience when judging or deciding about this. It's possible the person was influenced by someone with bad character, it's possible something very bad happened and, because of that, they succumbed to the addiction; there are countless possibilities to consider and analyze, but I think the pattern is what I described: you start with a choice and, while you're still able to think, you can decide whether to continue or not. Then, the game of willpower comes into play: can you be stronger than your addiction?