Addiction in America

[€uroMeinke]

You know - I'm kind of uncomfortable that this discussion has been more about AA/12-step programs instead of addiction, since the best people to talk about AA are the one's who have been in it and to comment about it breaks their anonymity.

I'm not sure what value a discussion about AA between people outside of it really has.

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That said I find addiction baffling as it is one of those things that's hard to define. I can match drink for drink with an alcoholic and yet the effect is quite different for me, so it's not a measure of how much.

It's easy to point to people and speculate about them being an addict (whether or not they agree), but what really is the marker?

A traditional definition is when the substance/activity starts to interfere with the rest of your life, and yet I bet we can all point to "functional alcoholics" we've know in our lives.

Maybe I need to read the article mentioned in the OP.