From: dave@bradley.bradley.edu (David Vessell)
Subject: Re: Partial Legalization
Organization: Bradley University
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 01:45:26 GMT

basher@ces.cwru.edu (Tim Basher) writes:

>dave@bradley.bradley.edu (David Vessell) writes:
>>To me that is the definition of addiction....the abdication of
>>responsibility of one's actions to an inanimate psychoactive substance.
>
>Wow!  That is the most bizarre definition of addiction I have seen.

Yeah, well, I'll be the first to admit that's more of an attitude towards a
practial approach to the problem of drug abuse than an attempt to form a
clinical definition of addiction.  I hope you catch the spirit of my
assertion, though.  My point was to underscore the cognitive process I see
as being to blame for the phenomenon of addiction, or for those
behaviourists out there, to define my attitude towards the 'organism' in
the ole stimulus-organism-response routine.


>First of all a "definition" for "addiction":
>
>  Addiction is characterized by psychological symptoms such as craving and
>a compulsion to take the drug on a continuous periodic basis, and physical
>effects developing when the drug is withheld or is unavailable.
>  Many drugs do not induce the symptoms of physical dependance associated
>with abrupt discontinuance, and it is their psychological effects which are
>the main driving forces behind their continued use.

As a clinical definition, I like this better than mine. =-)


>Second of all the term "addiction" is not used by the medical profession
>anymore.  Since a WHO report in 1970, the words "drug dependance" have
>been used instead of "addiction".

A fact that should not be overlooked.  I think this discussion is muddied
by the fact that 'addiction' is such an emotionally charged term that it
seems the scientists have given up on using it in any objective context.
I'm not really thrilled by the term 'dependence' either, but I think we
lapse into these terms because of familiarity.  If I use the term
'resonance' (the current term for what used to be the 'physical addiction'
associated with opiates) many people won't know what I'm talking about.
Likewise, I'd prefer to use 'compulsion to use' rather than 'psychological
dependence', but I'm not famous enough to make up the terms yet.


>As the DSM-III states:
>  Substance Dependence generally is a more severe form of Substance Use
>  Disorder than Substance Abuse and requires physiological dependence,
>  evidenced by either tolerance or withdrawal.
>[capitalization as found in DSM-III]
>
>The DSM-III does make an exception for Cannabis which requires evidence
>of social or occupational impairment from use of the substance or a pattern
>of pathological substance use.
>[Marijuana does not produce tolerance or physical withdrawal symptoms]
>
>While it is true that there is frequently "a pattern of pathological use
>that causes impairment in social or occupational function", this is not
>always the case; observe nicotine and [some] heroin users.

This is a very important point when we're talking about legalization.  In
Richard Lawrence Miller's book he makes a reference to a study that
suggested that the vast majority of drug users lead normal, productive
lives.  Drugs seem to be associated with despair and ruin because that's
what makes news.  There are thousands of airplane flights each day around
the world, but only the ones that crash make news.
-- 
=========*davE*.....making the world safe for intelligent dance music.=========
               Andre Marrou -- Libertarian for President 1992
--(David Vessell)--(Bradley University Computing Services)-(dave@bradley.edu)--
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.drugs