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Lydia Miller

Mr. Loudermilk

English 1101.559

18 October 2019

Addiction is a Disease

Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy, spoke about a comparison

between addiction and other diseases as well as the LGBT community which he called it

“Addiction is a Disease. We Should Treat It Like One.” He was also a part of the Massachusetts

Department of Public Health prior to his election to the ONDCP. Michael Botticelli had

personally been raised in a family surrounded with alcoholism and struggled to come out as gay

which caused him to turn to alcohol. Throughout his speech, he connects the audience to him

through a moving, personal story that others can relate to. By captivating the audience, it gives a

gateway for the audience to listen to his opinion. In Botticelli’s speech, he displays the use of

ethos, pathos, and logos to capture the purpose of treating people with addictions just like people

that have other diseases.

First, Botticelli starts his speech by telling a personal story to connect with the audience

by showing pathos as well as ethos. In his life, he had known several loved ones that passed

away from addictions to drugs or alcohol. He also makes it a point to recognize that he is not the

only person in the world that struggles with growing up being gay or being open about an

addiction. He shares a story about when he was waiting to get confirmed to be on the Senate, a

congressional staffer told him that he would never get confirmed, not because he was gay, but

because of his records for having an addiction to alcohol. All of these stories to make up one

complete life story are all examples of how Botticelli creates pathos in his speech. It allows

listeners to empathize with him and to take a stand for people with addictions. Botticelli also
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includes small details that allude to ethos by explaining how educated he is on addiction and

displays his high position as Director of Drug Policy to persuade listeners that he knows what he

is talking about.

Secondly, the speaker demonstrates logos throughout his entire speech. He includes

multiple snippets of statistics that allow the audience to take in evidence behind his opinion. This

evidence gives Botticelli more proof to the listeners to persuade them into agreeing with his take

on this widespread topic. For example, Botticelli states, “During 2014 alone, 28,000 people died

of drug overdoses associated with prescription drugs and heroin” (Botticelli). He is providing

these statistics for listeners to realize what a huge problem overdose is and how common it is for

people with addictions to not want to get help or feel like they do not deserve it. Botticelli goes

on to explain the impact on society in the 1980s as a result of HIV/AIDS. People that had these

diseases were ignored and were not receiving the treatments that they needed to get better.

However, he gives us hope that our society is better today with accepting people with diseases.

Botticelli includes several arguments for the listeners to contemplate including: what about

people with addiction? or should they be receiving treatment just as much as someone with

HIV/AIDS? These are all extremely logical and thought-provoking questions.

By taking in all of this information about ethos, pathos, and logos, it is a fair assumption

to make that Botticelli’s speech is extremely persuasive and effective. He packs in multiple

purposeful arguments including making people with diseases feel human, providing steps

forward to improving the understanding of addiction just as much as the LGBT community,

explaining that addiction should be more commonly talked about, society needs to change their

thinking on what addiction is, etc. Botticelli is for the people and is defending their needs. He

does a magnificent job and explaining comparisons between how he was treated as being gay
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and how he was treated as having an addiction. Both of which are things that society should

come to terms with and should further be educated on. By providing several purposes for

listeners to take away, Botticelli provides hope in the future of helping people with addictions to

feel like they are worthy of help.

In conclusion, Botticelli’s speech displays ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade listeners

that addiction is a disease and should be treated as a disease. Through ethos, listeners understand

that Botticelli has tons of knowledge on addiction. Through pathos, the audience can empathize

with him and relate to his story, making the overall speech more impactful and effective. And

through logos, Botticelli provides statistics that give listeners evidence to follow with his

conclusions and ideas. The main takeaway from his speech is that society has hope to be fully

educated about how important it is that people with alcoholism or drug addictions get help.

People with addictions are fully human just like people that do not have any addictions

whatsoever. In Botticelli’s speech, he displays the use of ethos, pathos, and logos to capture the

purpose of treating people with addictions just like people that have other diseases.

Work Cited:
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Botticelli, Michael, director. Addiction Is a Disease. We Should Treat It like One. TED, Oct.

2016,

www.ted.com/talks/michael_botticelli_addiction_is_a_disease_we_should_treat_it_like_

one?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare.