Sorry! I forgot the link.

http://archives.drugabuse.gov/about/welcome/aboutdrugabuse/chronicdisease/

Here is a list according to Stanton peele of the hardest addiction to quit.
http://www.peele.net/blog/081215.html
There are many addictions, gambling isn't mentioned in this article. All addiction come with their own problems and consequences.
Sure addiction to sugar or cigs doesn't alter the mind the same as alcohol but people are still addicted to them.
I was clinical depressed but I didn't consider it a disease either. Darn I could of had a reason for not doing anything!!
As for methadone or suboxone I used to think no way it was just another drug to substitute another drug. But now I feel if a pill can help someone not use a worst drug or help them have a better life where they can work and take care for themselves. Then I think I would rather that person take that pill. As one Dr. said if the quality of that person life is better then so be it. Not everyone can live their life completely drug free.

Donna, before I say anything else, I just want to let you know that I am sincerely sorry for what you are going through with your son. After living this life of addiction for the last 7 years and knowing all the pain and hurt that it causes, I can honestly say that I don't know what I would do if the addict in my life were my son...I pray for God's continued blessings on you, your son and your family.

First of all, thanks for the link. I did review it along with the sites 26-page report "Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction" which I read in its entirety last night....however...after reading all that information, and the responses here from those who are actively dealing with the causes and effects of addicts in our lives...i continue to gain evidence to support my conclusion that addiction is not a disease...and your minimizing of my addiction to Coke also helps to reenforce my conclusion...allow me to tell you about my problem with Coke...

First of all, I don't drink water...I don't like it...it tastes like crap...when I was a child...for some reason, i drank milk...My mother will attest to the fact that I used to drink a gallon of Bordens milk a day!...If I was thirsty, my mom would offer me water or juice, and yeah I would drink it, but when it came to actually quenching my thirst, the only thing that did that was an ice cold glass of Bordens Milk and yes it had to be Bordens... anyway, my problem with Coke (and yes, I am addicted to it) started during my junior year in high school...I would start my day at school, with a Coke and a Snickers for breakfast...for lunch, at school I would have the same thing I had for breakfast...a Coke and a Snickers...and at dinner, well what ever I had for dinner, I washed down with a Coke after my glass of milk...this went on for years...but it wasn't until after I graduated and left home, that I actually stopped drinking water and milk...and only drank Coke and other dark carbonated drinks...this went on for years, and the only person other than my mom who actually commented about my problem was my ex-husband...who drank nothing but water, from the tap (YUCK!!) and clear carbonated drinks...10 years after it first started...I went and got pregnant...well as soon as it was confirmed that I was pregnant, my ex-husband put his foot down and said no more Coke for the next 9 months...nothing but bottled water, juices, and Hi-C...and I was like okay, its cool, i have to do everything in my power to protect this baby growing inside of me...but as soon as he was born...bye-bye water, juices, and Hi-C...and hello Coca Cola!...As for my withdrawal from Coke...well back then when I was pregnant it wasn't really problem...but now...after almost 30 years of drinking Coke and not drinking water...if i don't get my daily fix of Coke...I don't get a major headache...I don't get a monster headache...I get a full-blown, nauseating, blinding, highly sensitive to even the slightest flicker of light, sound, or thought, brain-splitting, debilitating, MIGRAINE headache...I have had such severe migraines that I actually bang my head against the wall to releive the pain...and that can last anywhere from 24 hours to 5-6 days...and absolutely no amount of Coke will lessen it or make it go away...sometimes not even drugs will make it go away...it just has to go away on its own...why does that happen? well one of the reasons it happens is because I have chosen to expose my brain to the chemical effects of Coke and caffiene for the last 30 years...it also happens for whatever reason if I have a sip (just a sip) of red wine...which you couldn't pay me to take a sip of red wine...Another consequence of my addiction to Coke almost killed me...and no I still haven't learned my lesson...Remember, I do not drink water...so about 10-15 years ago...I was going through a very difficult time in my life...I was seperated from my ex-husband, trying to raise my toddler son, and working two jobs!...needless to say, I was under a lot of stress...and drowned all my sorrows into...Coke...i knew not to drink alcohol to drown my sorrows so I drank Coke...I had Coke from the time I got up in the morning till the time I went to bed...constantly...much like an alcoholic...or a food addict...and then all of sudden one day...i was eating lunch, and the french fry i bit into had absolutely no taste...i was like what the hell...so I tried another...nothing...i went home after work and told my mom...and she said maybe your coming down with a cold...i was like oh ok well that night I called into work because I developed a fever...next day I was fine....then a fever...then fine....that cycle went on for about two weeks...and each time the fever would be slightly higher...until the day my car note was due...i stopped by my moms house, and my temperature was 103...she was like go to the ER!...I was like no I can't I have to go pay my car note...she was like well go pay it and then go to the ER...I said fine...on my way to pay the car...i could tell my temperature was increasing...and i started getting dizzy...my friend at the car lot took one look at me and said are you crazy? get to the ER!!!...I paid my car note and made my way back to the county hospital ER...and as I walked in to the desk...my legs collapsed under me...I didn't faint but I did scare the ER personell into action and before I knew it I was in back of the ER hooked up to all sorts of machines with all sorts of people around me...asking me all sorts of questions...and then the nurse said to me: Sweetie, why in the heck do you have a 105 degree temperature?...and I was like I dunno, thats why I am here?...well to make an already long story short, i spent about 8 hours in the ER...and around midnight, a doctor came in with about eight of his students...and asked them about me...they each told him a little about my history and condition as he looked over my chart...and then he asked them so what do we do...they suggested continueing to monitor my fever, prescribing antibiotics and eventually releasing me home!...for the first time since he walked in he looked at me, slammed down my chart and almost yelling at them...asked are you kidding me? send her home? ...she presented with 105 degree fever...her white blood cell count is dangerously low (an extremely low white blood count can result in leukemia) ...we don't know why...and you want to send her home with an antibiotic script for what?...then he turned to me...and said Ma'am I'm sorry but since we don't know what caused your high temperature we are going to have to admit you to the hospital and run some more tests!!!...and with that he walked out...and I spent the next 7 days hospitalized with all sorts of tests and days when my fever would spike...and day when it wouldn't ...my family would come to visit...no one knew what the problem was...i wasn't getting worse, but I wasn't get better either...until one day, my ex sis in law was there when the nurse came in to take my vital signs...my fever was slightly high...and I guess they were feeling a little frustrated...she made the comment to me: Did you tell them that you don't water?...the nurse looked at me...and I was like uhm..no..not really...and the nurse was like what do you mean no? You don't drink water? well what do you drink...ME: ahem...Coke? ....NURSE: COKE!...Coke? but surely you drink some water, right?...And I was like no, not really...the nurse was astounded...she went back to the desk...did a little research and come to find out the whole time I had been there I had only asked for ice chips in my pitcher....i hadn't had no Coke...but I hadn't had no water either!...Well needless to say she told the doctors this...they started giving me water...making me drink water...and did some more tests and found out that I had a severe kidney infection....about two days later, they released me from the hospital with some strong antibiotics and a direct order to not drink Coke...and like I said that was about 14-15 years ago...and I did pretty good for the first couple of years....with the help of my family...but slowly but surely...I have chosen to start drinking Coke again...and stop drinking water...and no amount of pleading from my family or my husband convinces me to stop...I know what it can do and is doing to my body...but I still choose to drink Coke and not drink water...because I just don't like it...because I'm stubborn...because I want to do what I want to do...because it not hurting anyone else but me...damn...I sound just like him, don't I ?

I'm so sorry, this is so long...but...well...I just wanted whoever reads this to understand that I've come to my conclusion about addiction in the same way, I assume, most addicts have...it's not a disease...its a choice...its a choice that is made every single time...yes...the consequence of that choice does have a direct effect on the brain...which causes the wrong choice to be made over and over and over...and it does cause the brain to deteriorate and become diseased...but long before that happens, it is a choice...that becomes a habit...that becomes a learned behavior...and it is that learned behavior that needs to be treated and unlearned...

In closing I just want to say that over the last couple of days I've read and re-read the statement: No one chooses to be a drug addict or to have cardiovascular disease...I beg to differ...while I don't think that addiction is a disease, I do know that cardiovascular disease is...I also believe that the truth of the matter is that as individuals we make choices everyday that determine which disease if any, we will develop...

I as an adult have learned many things from my son (a child)...and one of the things I've learned from him is how true the statement that William Shakespeare made in his play is...
"The choices we make, dictate the lives we lead..."

Thank you

DepressedRecluse

addiction is a disese ,but starts with a choice. If you have alot of stress in a faimily when a child is growing up and limited commuication in how to deal with stress ,The kids will do any thing to releive the tensions and developing an adiiction can be way they cope with life.once you do a drug or a compulsive habit on daily basis your body and brain chemistry change.If you have parents that were drinkers or drug addicts you have more of a risk becoming an addict. If you self medicate to cope with a stressor you need to learn new coping skills to refrain from using.So in a way addiction is a choice at first .but takes over your mind and body until you either say enough or you are dead.That is why it is called adisease . Drug addiction changes the way your brain handles nero transmitters

OH MY GOD!!! Katrinka, thank you thank you thank you...for that link to Stanton Peele's website...i just spent the last 6 hours reading and researching that site...and it's gonna save me a lot of time and research...that site and articles and books (just the first chapter)...all that info is identical to the thoughts running through my head these last couple of days...right down to what I thought were just my opinions about AA, NA, treatment centers,...and the disease model of addiction...stanton peele's site and the National Institute of Drug Abuse site are going to serve as proof that I am right about my husband's addiction...i knew I was right about it not being a disease...but now I have 60 years of irrefutable research, evidence and proof that I am right...again, thank you!

Depressed glad you liked that site. You may also like Smart recovery which is a cognitive behavior program not 12 step.
http://www.smartrecovery.org/
Along with the Albert Ellis instute which has some good reading which says Addiction is a learned behavior not disease.
http://www.rebt.org/index.html