Is It Time to Abandon the Term “Smoker”?
November 22, 2023 by filtermag.org
Is It Time to Abandon the Term “Smoker”?
Words matter, particularly when they’re entwined with issues of identity. Labels have the capacity to erase the multi-faceted nature of our identities by reducing us to a single characteristic—something that overwhelmingly happens, unfortunately, to members of marginalized communities. In the field of substance use disorder, among others, “person-centered language” has become a widely established principle in recent years. A 2021 paper—coauthored by Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, itself the subject of calls for a name-change—supported this.