Addiction or Disease?
Posted in General, Health, Politics by jon h
In light of recent events involving the Kennedy clan of Rhode Island, I think we can draw comparisons to my little note on risk perception (outrage + real risk) to the spin control here on Patrick Kennedy’s behalf.
Once again, a fairly prominent member of society has a drug (or alcohol) addiction that has come into the public eye. It just kinda rubs me the wrong way when somebody talks about it being a “disease”. On one hand, yes, he is a Kennedy and the family has had more than their share of public addictions. And this isn’t a one sided Kennedy bashing, its just as wrong that Rush Limbaugh has drug issues.
Using the term “disease” just looks like an attempt to reduce the public outrage. By having a connotation of being an innocent afflicted with a “disease” that they have “caught” from just walking around, like “stomach flu”.
I guess what bothers me is that people buy it, especially from Patrick Kennedy. It isn’t a biological weakness, it is a character weakness. By his time, Patrick knows the family weaknesses. This isn’t catching a cold, this is arrogance in either ignoring family history (if you believe the genetic stuff).
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May 5th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
I’m very out of the loop when it comes to drugs. Thus, I really don’t know whether or not this stuff is a disease or whatnot. Looking in from the outside, it seems like this is a situation much like obesity. People are really sad that they’re fat, so they act like it isn’t their fault, even though in most cases it is.
May 5th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
Also it looks like you were going to continue that last paragraph… let me know if you had any problems posting.
May 5th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
I have heard that when you abuse certain substances enough it can change your brain chemistry and you can become dependent upon it. This brain chemistry change doesn’t go away when you stop using the substance, so it is much much more tempting to get hooked again than it would be for a person that has been completely unexposed to the substance. In that way it is a biological problem. Even if there is some biological aspect to it, that doesn’t excuse the behavior. So in that sense I think you’re right.
May 6th, 2006 at 12:44 am
speaking of obesity…instead of getting wasted this afternoon for the cornell version of blowout, I went home …took a nap and decided to eat out for dinner. McDonalds. I felt frisky, so I ordered the Big Mac meal with a large fry and a milkshake.
Now they give me a pretty darn big cup for the milkshake, so I put it in the freezer because I know that if I eat/drink the milkshake first I’ll be full…just looking at it. So I go online to figure out the calories.
580 cal for the burger.
570 cal for the fries.
1100 cal for the shake!
Jesus…at least when I make a pizza and eat it that night I know that I am getting 2k calories (after long runs). But really, who needs a 32 ounce shake…. I mean I ate it because I paid for it, and that required sticking it in the freezer a couple times because i didn’t want to have it all melted by the time i finished.
Man…i am going have a huge sugar crash after this..
May 6th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Holy crap! 1100 Calories!!!!