by Sharron Moore

Created on: July 31, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Upon allowing addiction into your life or having it become part of your life due to an illness, is as if you have a new organ. You will never live your life the same and if that organ is tampered with or possibly removed you might die. Organs, alcohol, and yes drugs are a major part of our society. They all become life or death situations. People that have always gone with a Tylenol while others chose vicodin for the same pain are a puzzle. As you look at the full picture you realize that addiction is everywhere. What about that woman that knits continually when not performing her other duties in life? I could also mention the man that is under the hood of his vehicle checking something every chance he gets. It appears to be a way to escape.

When you get cancer they tell you that you will not become addicted, your body will gain a tolerance, and remember you need this drug. The guy who smokes marijuana daily has become tolerant but it is wrong because the doctor didn't tell him to. Addiction can greet you at every corner with a welcoming smile and a invitation for utopia. Twenty years ago in high school we were divided into two groups, the ones that admitted they were getting high and the others. Fifty percent of the people that admitted to getting high became addicts. I wonder how many are silent addicts, who never told another soul? Now I would dare say it is close to ninety percent that have tried it.

Looking at the bigger picture you can see addiction everywhere you look, and I do not mean drugs. Drug addicts tend to be low key about their choices. I see addiction in the people that can't wait to get to work and stay late. It is also prevalent in shoppers, or even sex. If you Google addiction you will find titles you didn't even know existed as addiction. Food has become a popular topic for television. I often wonder if the writers strike helped it or if it was coming no matter what. Our society has begun to label things with addiction when it is simply a passion. We tend to focus on the negative when there is a positive to everything, in most cases. Patients in pain would no longer be tolerant, they would live their final days suffering, simply because of a label. Everywhere we look we see someone with a passion who is then given grief, for enjoying something that hurts no one.

I believe the phrase of once an addict always an addict. But when I examine the facts as a doctor would examine a patient that had an extra organ, it becomes far more acceptable. Healthy organs in your body are necessary to live a functionable life. Looking at addiction with the "organ" theory makes it much more understandable

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