[MaxWeiss]

Disease and addiction and behavior and willpower and all that jazz are all related. It's just the extent that they are related which we use to call a disease.

Some people have more willpower than others; some people have more addictive personalities than others; some drugs and actions have in them or create higher chemical levels than others..... all these interact. Usually addicted people are addicted to something because of an emotional problem... i.e. family or personal issues, but then the drug/act takes over.

Things like cocaine and heroin are much more addictive than other things like pot and alcohol--that is, the number of people who cannot handle them in a responsible way is far greater (in proportion) than those that cannot handle alcohol or pot in a responsible way.

This is how I base my beliefs on what should be legal and what shouldn't---how destructive the thing is or can be, and how many people cannot handle it. The proportion of addicted gamblers is far less than the proportion of crack addicts, when you compare the total number of people who have to those that now cannot handle themselves with it.

Hence, for some people alcoholism really is a disease, out of their control, for some people it isn't. There are probably many alcoholics who it is NOT a disease for, and of course many that it is.

There is not either/or for stuff like this. All those components mix and are different for everybody.