AHS Views

The short answer is probably no, but there is a longer explanation.

Drug addiction is often characterized as compulsive, drug seeking behavior due to physical and/or mental dependency on a drug, despite knowingly causing damage to oneself and others regardless of consequence.

Someone who is drug dependent may not exhibit the compulsive drug-seeking and may have a more rational appearance in life. Cases of this may include the moderate-to-heavy social drinker who has three alcoholic drinks several nights per week or more. You can also include the millions of people who take prescribed drugs day in and day out.

Someone who is drug dependent can easily become a drug addict, but there really isn’t a definite line. What happens if the drinker gets cut off at the bar? He often gets belligerent and goes to another bar to buy alcohol, which would be the compulsive drug (or alcohol) seeking.

Tolerance can also have an effect on dependence turning into addiction. One example might be someone being prescribed a narcotic painkiller after an injury or surgery. She takes it for the recommended week as prescribed, but when she stops she goes into withdrawals because her body became dependent on it. Her next reaction is that she has to get more of the drug to not feel bad anymore – and this escalates. We receive calls every week of this very scenario, after people have fallen completely into the addiction category.

Another example we see a lot with prescriptions includes teenagers who were put on amphetamines for learning disorder labels. Their bodies naturally develop a tolerance to the stimulant and then need more – something stronger. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve heard the story of “please help, my son is using cocaine,” and when I ask questions about their history I find out he was on Ritalin for three years prior to this happening.

So, despite different characteristics and definitions, one has to be drug dependent to be an addict, but the line isn’t definite when it is crossed. When do you think that line is crossed, if it’s there at all?

Article by Eric

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