Drug And Alcohol Abuse: Drug Abuse Facts

Question: Is drug and alcohol abuse a disease or an addiction ,?

(Posted by: Heath S on 2006-06-20 19:01:00)

Posted by: sassy34sandy on 2006-06-20, 19:04:47

It runs in my family big time, so a disease or a gene that get addicted easily

Posted by: pixieprincess on 2006-06-20, 19:04:48

Both but its really an addiction

Posted by: truthteller on 2006-06-20, 19:05:26

Addiction, you choose to drink or take drugs, you have no choice with a disease.................

Posted by: conradmex on 2006-06-20, 19:05:43

It might be both, but it starts usually with a little innocent trial and then you just go too far and can't get back..

Posted by: who is #1? on 2006-06-20, 19:09:36

Free will. Remember? It is a decision.

Posted by: maguyver727 on 2006-06-20, 19:09:40

I think it is an addiction, I have never heard of anyone catching alcoholism(like a disease caused by a germ). The PRESSURE's to DRINK can be passed-down and resisted, but it take's a while of drinking to become ADDICTED. There could be some messed-up DNA, but until you chose to start drinking, you don't have a chance to get addicted and abuse it. Crack is REAL ADDICTIVE, first or second time for most people. Very BAD......

Posted by: dorihnnt on 2006-06-20, 19:13:48

I think it has to do with both. if a person is genetically wired for alcololism but never touches a drink then they never will form an addiction, but if they are genetically wired and are therefore more prone to alcoholism then it may only take them a few drinks to form an addiction. that's why i say both, but it also has to do a lot with willpower.

Posted by: laughter_every_day on 2006-06-20, 19:16:28

Get your terms right. Alcohol "abuse " merely means drinking excessively, one time or frequently. Just because someone abuses alcohol doesn't mean they suffer from alcoholism any more than using drugs a couple times means one is an addict. Once an addiction is triggered, however, it is a disease that cannot be cured. The alcoholic who has quit drinking for 30 years is still an alcoholic who cannot drink again without rapdily moving back into the old chronic abuse. For an alcoholic, the urge never entirely disappears. The alcoholic will always be different, chemically and otherwise, from the rest of society.

Posted by: David S on 2006-06-20, 19:22:29

Drug addiction and alcoholism are both a disease and an addiction. In the case of alcoholism the disease condition takes a while to form. When we consume alcohol the liver secretes an acid to remove the alcohol from our blood. The body is, in some cases, slow to respond. Over a long enough period of time it just keeps dumping the acid to remove alcohol even when there is none. The body then requires alcohol to cut the acid. When that happens we are alcoholic. Many street drugs actually change the body's chemistry - permanently. Methamphetamine do this with one use. Only 6 people out of 100 that ever try to quit meth ever succeed. When a meth user's body requires the drug again they experience SEVERE stomach cramps.