Polishing off the rust

After attending many AA and NA meetings, meeting wonderful and some not so wonderful "addicts" and "alcoholics" and discussing their leads with them I was convinced that alcoholism is a very real and powerful disease. What I'm about to say is not meant to down play the seriousness of the effects of habitual drug and alcohol use but rather a different approach to the problem.

In the late 1970's and early 1980's physicians headed a crusade against alcohol and drug use claiming it as a disease with negative effects on the body. Which is true it does have negative effects on the mind and body, but is it a disease?

My theory is that drug abuse and excessive drinking are just symptoms of a different problem, not the source of the problem. Isn't the real problem depression which is actually another symptom of a problem specific to the person?

In the AA and NA meetings I attended they never addressed these issues. Instead they talked about how hard it was not to drink and use. Which I think is important to talk about with people that understand where you are coming from, but it seemed like it was far to easy to become "addicted" to the meetings and have it consume their whole identity. "I am an addict, I am an alcoholic" became all the meeting goers identified themselves with. How about "I am a father, I am an artist, I am an engineer, I am a mother that escaped my problems with alcohol and drugs".

Why weren't they trying to figure out what depressed them so they could fix that and then that should fill their need for the escape from reality they achieved from using drugs and alcohol?