Here's a pretty powerful illustration of the stigma associated with addiction in the legal profession.

Former Administrative Law Judge Mary Beth O'Connor didn't tell her colleagues on the bench at the Social Security Administration about her recovery until she was about 23 years sober. When she did, it was because she was joining the board of the non-profit organization LifeRing Secular Recovery. She had to tell the chief judges in her office and in her region as part of an ethics check.