Addiction: what is it?

— below is my brief response to Richard Lewis’ new piece on Beyond Meds and Mad in America (posted yesterday on the blog) See: Bridging the Benzo Divide: Iatrogenic Dependence and/or Addiction? 

At Beyond Meds the term addiction is often used as nomenclature for social commentary and not specifically about any particular drug user whether legal or illegal. The argument is that our culture is one of over-consumption and addiction in general, thereby affecting everyone regardless of whether one ingests any specific drugs at all. It’s a wider commentary that focuses on inclusion. That doesn’t mean that differences aren’t also a legitimate window some of the time it’s simply not what is being considered for the scope of this work.

Addiction is a societal issue. Consumerism and capitalism is dependent on the addict in everyone. Recognizing this fundamental issue with our society is part of a much deeper social commentary that this speaks to. Gabor Mate, Marion Woodman and others speak to this expertly if you’d like to do further research. Our society needs healing, it’s not just particular individuals who need to heal. We are all connected. Inextricably so. This argument can be true and we can also note real differences in how people use drugs. There is no argument there on my part. Language is inherently imprecise and context must always be considered.

This is a simple argument of inclusion. Arguments that concentrate on differences can be true simultaneously.

I’ve cut and pasted the above comments from two different articles from the past from Beyond Meds since this issue comes up again and again — clarity on the nuances of this stance is important. 

More related from Beyond Meds:

• People use drugs, legal & illegal, because…
• Addiction: it ain’t what you think
• We are all addicts
• (Psychotropic) drugs are drugs are drugs. Legal, illicit not so significant
• Addiction is not an Illness
• Ask, not why the addiction, but why the pain?
• Breaking Through A Toxic Environment
• Power of addiction and addiction to power

For a multitude of ideas about how to create a life filled with safe alternatives to psychiatric drugs visit the drop-down menus at the top of this page. 

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