Posted by:
SL Cabbie
(
)
Date: January 23, 2015 12:39PM
Addiction is a physiological process where the body incorporates the agent into its metabolic processes.
Some hard science and not just some HuffPo huffing...
http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/directors-page>Dr. Volkow’s work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a disease of the human brain. As a research psychiatrist and scientist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects and addictive properties of abusable drugs. Her studies have documented changes in the dopamine system affecting, among others, the functions of frontal brain regions involved with motivation, drive, and pleasure in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging.
I documented years ago how membership in the LDS Church does have strong psychological elements common to addiction; per Patrick Carnes, "Addiction is a pathological relationship with a mind altering/mood changing experience," but this article is pretty much snake oil fiction. His hypothesis is that since a change in environment can bring about "abstinence" (a doubtful claim itself, since that doesn't happen in most cases; he cherry-picked the post-Vietnam heroin problem), the environment must be the cause of addiction. Typical junk science...
The author is a British tabloid journalist--not a scientist, physician, or clinician--with a history of unethical practices and hyperbolic claims.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Hari>Johann Eduard Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British writer and journalist who has written regular columns for The Independent (London) and The Huffington Post and made contributions to several other publications. In 2011, he was suspended from The Independent following multiple charges of plagiarism and was separately accused of making malicious edits of several of his critics' Wikipedia pages under a pseudonym, an allegation he later admitted to.[3] The exposed plagiarism led to his being forced to return his 2008 Orwell Prize and later was a contributing factor in his leaving The Independent.
Now if you want to tell me Johann Hari has a lot in common with testimony-bearing Mormons, I'll concede you have a strong case.