To wean them off they are forced to play pong while in rehab for 8 hours a day. The rest of their time they are given cigarretts, booze and cocain. Those addicted to sex are forced to watch continues reruns of Roseanne. Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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forced to watch continues reruns of Roseanne. @LikelyStory Eureka! That could be the cure for many addictions and could numb anyone's craving for anything. However, must use with caution as too much exposure to Roseanne could lead to irreversible ED, extreme depression, multiple personality disorder and unexplained weight gain.

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"...too much exposure to Roseanne..." would lead me to Russian Roulette with all 6 chambers filled. Skip

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I'm a gamer. At age 7 my best friend and I discovered pinball and fell immediately in love. Then along came video games in the 70's. I remember he got Pong for x'mas one year and a month or so later his dad told us we were not allowed to play it on his new color TV because we had burnt the rectangular game field from Pong onto his 6 month old color TV (the "new" one was the replacement...........LOL). I can't tell you how many hours or dollars we've spent in arcades and I've owned everything Nintendo had made as well as a few other gaming consoles over the years. Since I got into computers and computing I began gaming on the computer too. In fact, I and some friends own a gaming server we have hosted by a Colocation company in Detroit, MI. Am I an addict. Hardly. I haven't gamed on my PC in over a year now. I'm not sure why but as is normal with me, the urge comes and goes and presently it's gone. For how long I can't say. The last time it "went" I didn't game on my PC for about 4 years. I still do a little Mario Kart on the Wii but that's few and far between and my Xbox hasn't come out of the closet since my last trip home to visit my best friend..........a year and a half ago. However, Stuarts is very correct about gaming tweaking pleasure centers. Is it an addiction. I suppose it could be when I consider my ex's nephew (then age 5) sitting playing the original nintendo and filling his pants because he won't put the controller down long enough to go poop in the toilet. But then I think, the little bugger did that because he had 4 siblings and if he put the controller down he wouldn't get it back for hours so opted for pooping in his pants instead. Expedience as vs addiction..........LOL. In a gross, disgusting kind of way, it shows a certain level of wit. All I know is when my son got to the gaming age he always wanted to play and whined and begged continuously. I did an experiment finally and let him play as much as he wanted. It started Friday night of a long weekend. On Monday morning I asked him if he was going to play and he said no. He'd had enough. I let him glut himself and afterwards, he only ever played if he was playing with someone else like me or his best friend. So why am I not an addict? Why isn't my son? Personally, I don't think it is an addiction. Certainly not one like booze or drugs. And, I agree with Likely (very funny post and right on the money bro!), I will NOT pay someone elses bills so he/she can sit at home and game!

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So why am I not an addict? Why isn't my son? Probably for the same reason that I don't have cancer or heart disease when so many of my contemporaries have died prematurely, and I have smoked since I was 15 years old! In a word; susceptibility! Stuart

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I like video games, love to play. I always assumed that the reason I didn't blow a lot of money on them or get deaper was because I suck at them lol. Actually I would get off more by building or designing a new machine to play them on. Iam not a player I am a tinkerer. From my mid teens to my early thirties I drank. I drank a lot. I was the guy at the party that could mix any liquor and still function. If we got low on booze, even though I was the one that had finished off most of it, I was the one everybody wanted to ride with to go get more. At one time I thought I was addicted but didn't care. I watched several around me that were addicted loose jobs, wreck cars, waste marriages. If I knew I had to work I throttled back on what I drank, I never let it affect my work the ones that did were the biggest loosers to me. As time went on I realized that in order to tolerate being around drunks I had to be drunker after a time the drunker I got the less I could tolerate being around drunks until it got to the point when I would avoid drinking so I didn't have to share my air with some drunken piece of crap. Then one day I noticed I hadn't drank more than half a beer in over a year. I realized I was never addicted I drank because having a party or hanging with friends at the club was about the only fun I had. When I avoided those people I ended up running in a different crowd that didn't do that and it was even more fun. I don't really see myself as being a strong person. I have walked away from booze with no trouble, from drugs with no trouble. I smoked for over 30 years and would be smoking now but I lost a job and yada yada yada the bills had to be paid the kids had to be fed so now I have walked away from them too with no trouble. I am not strong so what in the heck is wrong with all those sad sacks that can't get away from their addictions? And why must I support them? Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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I wouldn't be surprised if years down the road researchers discover that there's a genetic component to having a predisposition to addiction, whether it be food, alcohol, drugs, video games, smoking, or even posting on forums.

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Addiction is an "illness" of the brain & while it takes a deep knowledge of neuroscience to have an advanced grasp of it, it is sheer ignorance to dismiss it as something purely esoteric & overly simplistic to point to the lack of willpower as the primary reason many folks whose lives have been negatively altered by the disease find it hard to break. It is often misdiagnosed, much like the ADHD disorder, which many people like Tom Cruise -- despite compelling research to the contrary -- still see as a fake disorder. For one, it comes in all forms & cuts across gender, age, race & socio-economic status. Although, the environment has a huge influence due to the human mind's adaptive malleability & innate proclivity once an addict is hooked. And most are in denial about the addiction until they've been significantly consumed or become "damaged goods" by whatever it is they are addicted to. Science may not be able to explain everything in nature, at least, not yet or perhaps never. But, curiosity is a good thing & IMO, there's no reason to be cynical about what the clinic in Britain is doing. If they uncover something significant, good. And if they don't, someone can use their data to further future research on the subject, kind of like Tycho Brahe & Johannes Kepler. Although, this subject is not of the same magnitude as that & may not result in any paradigm shift. I think most people have something(s) they are addicted to. And as long as it's a healthy & harmless type of addiction, nobody really pays attention to it. I know I'm addicted to the internet & this site & a few others are the culprit. As far as gaming, my addiction level is similar to Curt R's, I go through phases when I game -- mostly PC games -- a lot & then go into several months of not playing any games at all. Windows 7 News!

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Your probably right Sabertooth and I know I am fairly simple minded when it comes to understanding things like this. I just find some of these addictions hard to stomach. Even more so I fend it rather difficult to think I should take pitty on a person otherwise in perfect health were it not for their addiction and believe we should coddle them and support both them and their addiction. The reason I have a problem with all this is that at one time cocain was my drug of choice. Now I personally know of 3 people living in California that are younger than myself and are on social security for their addiction to cocain. They are not tested on a regular basis but they get a regular check provided by the tax payer. It has been argued in the courts that to force them to get a drug screen to recieve this check would be a violation of their cival rights. The check is for the addiction. These 3 people are living happy healthy lives at our expense. Regardless of disease or not they ways "addictions" are being handles ar just not acceptable. At some point everyone has made a personal choice the addiction did NOT just happen. Some of us choose to live with and deal with our choices. Some of us choose to let others deal with our problems. Personally I choose not to allow someone that has knowingly and willingly continued to make bad choices get by with a tear. Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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I have never used drugs & do not personally know one person that's a narcotics or stimulant abuser, but there's one or two acquaintances that use "medical" marijuana ... pun intended. Also, while I agree that -- illness or not -- procuring & using illegal substances is an act that is taken by an individual, there's a reason behind the clinical studies & other types of research on the subject & it has very little to do with law & ethics & everything to do with constructing causal models on the problem. As to the SSI payment for cocaine addiction, I think you may be exaggerating that or maybe conflating what exactly those folks are getting a check for, I honestly do not see that happening anywhere in the US. I know there's a plethora of rehabilitative programs out there & they are usually stringently administered. If these dope-heads you talk about are getting some type of benefits payment & diverting the money to drug abuse, that I can comprehend. But Uncle Sam will not give you money to go spend on drugs. Oh & BTW, if you know these people personally, why haven't you dropped a dime on their ass -- you obviously don't condone drug abuse. Windows 7 News!

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I have dropped a dime this is how I founf out it was against their cival rights to force them to be tested, or wait from what I gather that issue is still being addressed. These 3 people were given a disability rating by a doctor. The claim is that they can not work due to their disability. The reason they are disabled is cocain abuse. In order to qualify they had to prove to a judge that they were addicted. A rehab program was offered but not forced. Apparently someone else had tried to stop persons using an addiction from getting payments and it turned into a mess. At the moment 1 of these people is recieving $1200 a month in social security at age 33 for as it is worded " 100% Disability due to addiction". I understand the idea that addiction is a disease and that most need help to get over one. I started smoking in 1974. It wasn't that long before I knew it would kill me if I didn't quit but I did not want to. I finally did quit about a year ago. Not because I wanted to live or any other health reason. Between the wife and I we were spending over $600 a month on smokes and I found myself out of a job. I have a family to feed and other bills that must be paid. A choice was made. I used cocain for almost 10 years again a choice was made. The same choices any other addict makes. I am not making lite of the addiction, it's the choices I have a problem with. Like you said there are many help programs out there. All the addict has to do is make the choice. The rest of us should not have to live with that persons choice. If this person needs help then help them. If this person won't accept the help then I turn my back to them. The addiction can have them but without my tax dollars. As for the studies. How many miilions do we have to waste this time to see the same results we saw the last dozen times. I am not sure if there is anything that can't become addictive to someone. As for the chemicals in the brain, the pleasure centers and all that other stuff, I am guessing being addicted to T.V. is about the same as being addicted to shopping or smoking grass. Oh and I am not anti drug. The drugs, the alcohol have done nothing. If your going to use them I don't have a problem with it. If your going to cry that they are the reason you can't control your life then you just suck with or without them. If you lost your job because you were to high to go to work and you first thought is to go get high then the drug is not the problem your just a poor excuse for a human being. Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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"Oh and I am not anti drug. The drugs, the alcohol have done nothing. If your going to use them I don't have a problem with it." Unfortunately fortunately, this is not a banana republic & you can't maintain that posture with drugs, at least not from a public policy perspective; anymore than you can not be bothered if your next door neighbor decides to adopt a couple of mountain lions as pets on his property. These substances you talk about are dangerous & not only that, there are ancilliary events associated its procurement, possession, distribution ... etc. that are criminal & often violent by nature. You need to look at the big picture. Using your logic, you can make the same argument for unemploment, housing benefit & any kind of gov't subsidy. If someone loses their deadend job because their skills flatout suck or aren't in demand anymore or the company went belly up, while it is their fault that they didn't choose the right skills or get a better education that would have afforded them a far better paying job that's more secure. But you wish there was some safety net to reduce the blow to them ... so we all don't have to fork over more money to sustain them in the long run - I hope you get my drift, drug abuse is bad & there's no excuse for it. But that isn't going to end its abuse or help understand why the problem is that pervasive & what treatment is most effective in these most pervasive situation. http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/16/new... And how the heck did we go from gaming to drugs??? Windows 7 News!

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I agree drugs are bad as well as everything that go with them. However I am not on an anti drug crusade. The problem I see is not the drugs nore the use of them. It is the irresponsibilty of some that use them. I know many still today that use drugs or alcohol. While I choose not to live that life or run with that crowd they take resposibilty for their actions. They don't boo whooo about their lot in life. They get up and go to work. They support themselves and their families. I am not out to eat someones lunch because they use drugs but if your going to use that as an excuse I would rather you just hold your breath until you drop. The same goes for the gamers out there. If you can't pull your lazy butt away from the consol long enough to take care of yourself fine. Hold your breath!!!! While I do agree that drugs are bad I will argue they are no worse than alcohol. It has been the excuse used just as many times as drugs but it's legal. GO FIGURE!!! Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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