What exactly is chemical dependency? Fortunately, more and more people are coming to believe that chemical dependency is not a sign of moral and psychological weakness. Melenie Mender, a speaker from a drug treatment center, shares the same opinion about addiction as many drug specialists. "T...

Historically, alcohol and drug dependency was viewed as a sin or a disease. In recent decades, it has been thought to be a maladaptive behavior patterns (Thombs, 1999). I believe that it's a combination of three things: A disease in which people learn to act in immoral ways (Thombs, 1999). A dr...

Everyone agrees that something must be done about the tremendous physical and emotional health problems caused by drug abuse. Concern about the abuse of drugs is so most serious problems in today's world, threatening the security and freedom of whole nations. Politicians, health experts, and much o...

The Importance of Saying "NO" It was the summer of 2001 when my grandfather was admitted to the hospital with chest pains. Shortly before this he had quit smoking. I had never seen my grandfather in a hospital needing surgery for clogged arteries in his heart. I was notified about him...

Critical Issue Analysis on Gambling Responsible Gambling Is Harmless Fun, Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., '"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." "21." "Greed." It's no secret these new network television game shows immensely popular. But why? According to some observe...

Needed: A License to Drink The article, "Needed: A license to Drink", by Mike Brake, explores various reasons to issue a drinking license to those who wish to consume alcohol. The author stresses the facts of the addiction to alcohol as a major health concern in America. Following this...

Legalization Have you ever been arrested for possession of marijuana? Last year there were more than 695,201 marijuana arrests in the United States. Of those arrests 87.2% were for possession - not for sale or manufacture of marijuana. There have been over 11 million marijuana arrests in the Uni...

Addiction in our world today is the reason for most of our deaths. We as a country, need to do whatever we can to knock down the rate of people dying due to addiction. The three most common addictions in the world are alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Addiction is the compulsive physical and psycholo...

Alcoholism, also known as "alcohol dependence," is a disease that includes alcohol craving and continued drinking despite repeated alcohol-related problems, such as losing a job or getting into trouble with the law. It is characterized by the following four elements: Craving -- A strong need, or c...

Gambling Effects The legalization of public gambling improves the economy of hosting states. Gambling is viewed differently from person to person. It all depends if one has any experience in the area or not. If one does have experience, than what are his or her thoughts? Gambling has an addict...

All Medicines, whether obtained over the counter, or on prescription, are drugs. The fact that they are legally and freely available doesn't mean that they are always beneficial to health. One of the major drug problems in our community today is the misuse of prescribed and over the counter medicine...

When people think of dysfunctional families they tend to think of fatherless homes, impoverished households, and child abuse. Very rarely does this train of thought lead to one of the most predominant sources of many of these symptoms: alcoholism. I suffered through those symptoms (as well as others...

In "Addiction Is Not a Disease," Stanton Peel contends addiction is a choice, derived from the addict's desires and principles. "Addiction" to illegal drugs includes free choice to indulge in and to continue using an illegal substance such as heroin ...

Marijuana, also called mary-jane, pot, grass, weed, doobey and reefer, is the most commonly used illegal street drug in North America. It causes numerous amounts of health risks, it's a gayway drug, and it can mess up your life by getting you in trouble with the law. Mariju...

Marijuana ( aka grass, pot, weed) is the common name for the crude drug made from the plant, Cannabis sativa. Over 400 chemicals are in marijuana, including the main mind altering ingredient, THC. The amount of THC in the marijuana determines how strong the effects will be. Factors of the strength ...

I got one good reason why not... Look at what happens with legal products that cause you bodily harm -- cigarettes. Trial lawyers and various other advocates decided that since these 'evil' tobacco companies make a ton of money off of a 'defective product' - they sued for (and won) a multi-billion d...

When Is It Addiction? A state of addiction is reached when people habitually or obsessively surrender themselves to a substance or a behavior. Sometimes the person with the addiction uses that substance or behavior to escape pain or reality. Yet, they seem to only hurt themselves or others but stil...

Marijuana in the mid 19th century was first used as a medicinal entity; there have been more than one hundred published medical literatures in the west recommending marijuana for various illnesses and discomforts (Grinspoon & Bakalar, 1993). This trend continues in our days with cannabis proposed...

Drug addiction is a problem that has been increasing immensely among our society today. Drug addictions can only hinder or restrain us from accomplishing goals or dreams in life. People sometimes feel they are too bright, too powerful, too much in control to become addictive. Addiction can trap any...

Addiction to Alcohol Many people may not consider alcohol to be a narcotic because it is used in many by so many people young and old and also in a numerous amount of religious ceremonies. However alcohol does impair the body and mind as well as it can be addictive so therefore is classified as a...

Legalization of Marijuana In a day in time where alcohol and tobacco products, although restricted by age, are available to millions, one has to wonder why there is such controversy about the proposal to legalize marijuana. Of course, there are many arguments or both sides of this hotly debate...

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SOFT DRUG When it comes to discuss the problem of decriminalize or not cannabis, it is natu-ral that the interest is focused on whether or not we should classify cannabis to the same "hard drugs" category among other substances such as heroin. And this dilem...

Marijuana is the most heavily used illegal drug in the United States. One hundred million Americans have admitted to trying marijuana, with twenty-five million admitting to having used marijuana in the past year, making it the second most used recreational or mood altering drug. One of marijuana&apo...

Problems of Drinking It is often assumed that problem drinking is only a problem for the drinker. This may be linked with the idea that all problem drinkers are "alcoholics" or heavy-end dependent drinkers who live on the streets and are isolated from normal social contacts. Both of these stereot...

We have our own free will, the ability to voluntarily decide to perform one of the several possible acts or to avoid action entirely. Among these choices lie future consequences, good or bad. There are times we choose to think first before we act and end up happy with the outcome. But, there are...