Advocates for addiction recovery are hoping that a new HBO series, "Addiction," will help educate the public about the disease and clear up some common misconceptions, the Clanton Advertiser reported March 1.

Alabama Voices of Recovery recently hosted a screening of the series' centerpiece 90-minute documentary, which will air nationally on March 15. "The one message that we hope this documentary does is that an addiction is a chronic, treatable brain disease," said group president Bill Layfield. "We want people to know that they can receive treatment to break the addiction."

Layfield said the documentary, the result of a partnership between HBO, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, could help dispel the notion that addiction is a moral issue and show viewers that help is available.

"I think this is an eye-opening documentary that should transform the way we think about addiction," he said. "It shows why people like myself can be addicted for a long time. It is all in the brain and I hope that this will give everyone a chance to see how they can get away from addiction."