Original sentence: Addiction is a chronic disorder proposed to be precipitated by a combination of genetic, biological/pharmacological and social factors.Decades ago addiction was a pharmacologic term that clearly referred to the use of a tolerance-inducing drug in sufficient quantity as to cause tolerance (the requirement that greater dosages of a given drug be used to produce an identical effect as time passes).To wit, pharmacologists continue to speak of addiction from a physiologic standpoint (some call this a physical dependence); psychiatrists refer to the disease state as dependence; most other physicians refer to the disease as addiction.Unfortunately, terminology has become quite complicated in the field
Edited sentence: Addiction is a pejorative, historical term to refer to dependence on substances (such as analgesics) or behaviors (such as gambling), proposed to be precipitated by a combination of genetic, biological/pharmacological and social factors.As a pharmacologic term addiction clearly referred to the use of a tolerance-inducing drug in sufficient quantity as to cause tolerance (the requirement that greater dosages of a given drug be used to produce an identical effect as time passes).Because of political loading this term is abandoned by most scientists, being replaced with the more precise (but less useful for prohibitionist stances) of dependence.Because of that scientific community tends to avoid the use of such a loaded term.Pharmacologists sometimes translate the lay term as physical dependence; psychiatrists refer to the disease state as dependence; most other physicians refer to the disease as addiction.Prohibitionism, a political stance, continuosly tries to interfere in the scientific definition to promote its point of view.Prohibitionists often describe as addictive any entity they are trying to forbid.Terminology has always been vague and intents to clarify it have failed, partially because of commercial interests related to purposedly addictive entities.The term is primarily (and profitably) used by politicians and lay persons when lobbying on issues regarding the current Prohibition of certain drugs