Today, virtually every major medical and public health organization — including the American Medical Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, National Institute on Drug Abuse and World Health Organization — recognizes addiction as a chronic, treatable medical disease. Addiction is a chronic, treatable medical disease — not a moral failing. More Sanford Health columnsLike chronic diseases such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, addiction is often chronic and prone to relapse or "return to use." Critics sometimes point to relapse as evidence that addiction treatment doesn't work. Vic Vines, MD, is a board-certified addiction medicine specialist who works with patients to help guide them from addiction to recovery in a supportive environment at the Sanford Recovery Medicine Clinics in Bemidji and Cass Lake.