FOR THE ADDICT AND THE ALCOHOLIC: ADDICTION, DEPENDENCE AND CHEMICALS

The old word for this sickness was 'drug addiction'. Because it is used by so many people in ordinary life, we sometimes use it in this book. But today many doctors talk about 'drug dependence'. When we are anxious to be strictly accurate, we use the term 'chemical dependence' - for a good reason: the illness applies to all chemicals, drugs and drink alike.

Heroin addicts, tranquilliser addicts and alcoholics all have the same sickness. They are dependent on chemicals. These chemicals can be heroin or cocaine, tranquillisers or sleeping pills, or the ethyl alcohol found in a bottle.

And to an addict, the exact chemical does not matter. Of course, all addicts have their drug of choice. A heroin addict prefers heroin. But if he or she can't get any, cocaine or methadone or tranquillisers or alcohol will do at a pinch.

It's like visiting an ice-cream parlour. You go into an ice-cream parlour wanting some chocolate-chip ice-cream. If the chocolate-chip ice-cream has run out, you won't go out

empty-handed. You'll settle for butterscotch, strawberry or even plain vanilla. Just as long as it's

ice-cream. Addicts feel just the same way about drugs. 'If you're not near the drug you love, you'll love the drug you're near/ is a familiar saying among recovering addicts.

For practical purposes, drug addiction and alcoholism are the same thing. Alcoholics are just ethyl-alcohol addicts under a different name and they are drinking a legally available drug. The illness they have in common with drug addicts is the illness of chemical dependence.

That's why there is only one answer to chemical dependence - complete abstinence from any kind of mood-altering drug. No heroin, no cocaine, no tranquillisers and no alcohol.

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Anti-Smoking