The walls of silence around addiction are coming down

Every time I find myself standing in front of a group of people, I take the opportunity to ask a simple question: "Has your life, or the life of someone you know, been negatively affected by addiction? Raise your hand!" Over the years, I have watched more and more people raise their hands, actively taking part in the exercise.

When I last asked that question in May, to an audience of over 200 including families, students and administrators, about 30% of the room had their hands raised. This was at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, as we held a ceremony for graduating students from the health careers department.

I replicate this nonscientific survey in my work at the college. At every student event I attend I display a large board featuring a printed version of the same question, offering students the option to leave a Post-it on the board. Year after year, I have seen students increasingly willing to participate.

During the 2025-26 academic year, students left 155 posts on the board. The breakdown was telling: 58% identified a family member or themselves, with 30% specifically identifying a father. Meanwhile, 42% identified a friend.

In SCCC's Addiction Studies Program we are training students to become credentialed substance use disorder counselors. They can then join the professional treatment workforce on Long Island — which has a shortage of such counselors — to facilitate recovery and to engage and educate the community to help break the stigma of addiction.

Recently, my executive dean asked me, "What have you learned from our students?" I was not initially prepared for the question. I paused, wanting to contemplate an answer that critically addressed the gravity of the question rather than offering a superficial response. My immediate thought was that our students are hungry for knowledge about the dynamics of addiction. They understand the medical model — they know addiction is a disease. They know that individuals struggling with substance use, whether in active addiction or in recovery, are our friends, family members, neighbors and co-workers.

While all of that is true, it was not the answer to the question I was being asked. I paused to reflect deeper. Within seconds, the true answer became clear. "I have learned from our students," I replied, "that all the years we have invested in dismantling the stigma of addiction have actually had an effect on society."

My response sparked an engaging discussion about the hand-raising exercise and the Post-it board. The two deans present and I discussed how vastly different things were just over a decade ago. Not long ago families refused to talk about addiction. Friends were kept entirely in the dark about a loved one's struggle. It was a secret — never to be discussed and never shared with anyone.

Today we know what works, and we know that addiction is both treatable and recovery is entirely possible. Treatment works, prevention programs and community education work, and 12-step support groups like Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous have been aiding personal recovery for a long time. There are an estimated 23.5 million people living in long-term recovery in America today.

From what I am personally and professionally observing on Long Island, anecdotally and in my nonscientific surveys, we are seeing a profound societal shift in the zeitgeist surrounding addiction. The walls of silence are coming down — one raised hand, and one Post-it note, at a time.

This guest essay reflects the views of William Rule, an associate professor at Suffolk County Community College and coordinator of its Addiction Studies Program.