In this Atlanta Jewish Times article, Leslie Lubell talks about how addiction affects the family:

"Drug and alcohol addiction is an issue that affects many families, but often remains unspo­ken. As the conversation around addiction has opened up in recent years, programs like HAM­SA have emerged in the Jewish community. While these programs have certainly moved the needle on awareness around addiction, stigma and shame still have a firm grip on us.

Judgment and a lack of understanding/ed­ucation fuel stigma, stigma breeds shame, and shame leads to silence. It impacts both the indi­viduals afflicted by this disease and those who love them. Drug overdoses and alcohol-related deaths – which have tragically impacted many Jewish families – are now the leading cause of prevent­able injury and death, eclipsing auto accidents and gun violence. Many of these deaths are avoidable when we begin to understand addiction as a treatable disease, instead of a moral failing.