There is no stigmatization of substance use

Recent publications have raised an important issue: does the societal disapproval of substance use/addiction (SUA) need to be abolished as stigmatization?The literature on this topic and relevant funding agencies, such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse, commonly make no distinction between stigma and other forms of disapproval of SUA.SUA disapproval, in general, is thus called to be rejected by society and its institutions.As argued before, such conflation of stigmatization and disapproval may be dangerous, and there is a need for distinguishing between justified disapproval of SUA and unjust stigma (Vanyukov 2024a,b).A significant contribution to that literature is the review by Morris et al. (2024).Discussing the aforementioned articles, the authors begin by declaring their support for a 'conceptual distinction between disapproval as a normative influence and stigma as harmful' and recognition that societal norms have a role in 'influencing -and potentially -being fostered to shape addiction outcomes'.Having said that, they instantly follow this by expressing their doubt in the possibility of such a distinction in practice 'without inducing destructive