Also written: Addict, Addicted, Substance use disorder
| Source | Year | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Global Center for Journalism & Trauma | 2021 | Use |
| National Center on Disability and Journalism | 2021 | Use with care |
| Diversity Style Guide | 2023 | Use with care |
“Terms such as "addict" or "drug abuser" should generally not be used as nouns. Avoid identifying individuals with their disease. "She had a heroin addiction" is preferable to "she was a heroin addict."”
GCJT treats "addiction" as the preferred construction: it advises against the noun "addict" and prefers naming the condition ("a heroin addiction") over labeling the person ("a heroin addict").
“"Addiction" is an acceptable term, although some prefer "substance abuse disorder." It is preferable to refer to someone who harmfully uses drugs as "someone with a drug addiction" rather than an "addict."”
NCDJ — the chapter's anchor — calls "addiction" an acceptable term (while noting some prefer "substance abuse disorder"), prefers "someone with a drug addiction" over the noun "addict," and recommends "recovering" / "in recovery from" language. It also distinguishes addiction from dependence.
“The term addiction is acceptable for uncontrollable, compulsive use of substances … It is preferable to refer to someone who harmfully uses drugs as someone with a drug addiction.”
The Diversity Style Guide accepts "addiction" for compulsive use despite harmful consequences, prefers person-first "someone with a drug addiction" over "addict," distinguishes addiction from dependence, and discourages "junkie," "clean," and "dirty."
“Addiction” the condition is accepted; “addict” the label is not. All three sources treat “addiction” as a usable term while rejecting the noun “addict”: GCJT prefers “she had a heroin addiction” over “she was a heroin addict,” and both NCDJ — the chapter’s anchor — and the Diversity Style Guide prefer “someone with a drug addiction” to “an addict.” All three use person-first phrasing: name the condition a person has, rather than collapsing the person into it.
Two refinements run through the corpus. NCDJ notes that some prefer “substance abuse disorder,” and both NCDJ and the Diversity Style Guide distinguish addiction from dependence — a physical dependence on a prescribed medication is not the same as an addiction. The Diversity Style Guide adds the related rejections: “junkie,” and the recovery-context “clean” and “dirty,” which moralize a medical condition. The guidance is stable across the 2021–2023 sources.
One scoping note: most of the cross-source guidance on this topic is about the rejected labels for people — “addict,” “junkie” — which belong on their own entries. This page covers the condition-term itself, which the sources accept. It pairs with mental health.