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temptation, the solemn resolutions, which are nevertheless invariably broken, never to do it again, the stupefying pleasure and the bad conscience which tells the subject that he is ruining himself (committing suicide)—all these elements remain unaltered in the process.”
    Freud postulated a hereditary component and delineated similarities between compulsive drinking and compulsive gambling. He also suggested that these compulsions have an association with an organic, toxic brain disease. Decades worth of subsequent research studies have proven him spot-on correct in that regard.
    There were early attempts to link alcoholism with manic-depression, now called bipolar disorder, or with a “false manic-depressive” condition. As there were no addiction medicine specialists in those days, there were no empirical medical studies of these conditions beyond noting their characteristics.
    Today we know that alcohol is the most prevalent drug abused, causes more deaths than all other drugs combined, and is the most difficult to treat because of its ability to simultaneously affect multiple brain receptors (while other drugs tend to affect only one or two).
    4.Virtually Everyone Who Uses Meth or Crack Will Become Addicts and the Meth and Crack Addiction Are Increasing
    Most users of meth and crack—like all drugs—never become addicts. Your probability of becoming dependent is estimated to be 32 percent for tobacco; 23 percent for heroin; 17 percent forcocaine and crack; 15 percent for alcohol; 11 percent for stimulants other than cocaine (like meth); 9 percent for cannabis; 9 percent for anxiolytic, sedative, and hypnotic drugs; 8 percent for analgesics; 5 percent for psychedelics; and 4 percent for inhalants. Bottom line: Most people simply stop using their drug of choice before it becomes a real problem.
    The misinformation about crack and meth is legion. The very names of these street drugs cause politicians to foam at the mouth. Are they dangerous? Without a doubt. Do they deserve the kind of hysteria they generate? Nope.
    It’s worth saying again: Most people who try crack don’t like it and don’t use it again. Over 75 percent of people who tried crack between 2004 and 2006 were not using it at all two years later; 15 percent still smoked it occasionally, but not in a way associated with addiction.
    Even though they’re the same drug, but in a different form, crack and cocaine are perceived wildly differently both by the criminal justice system and the public alike.
    During their lifetime, 7,840,000 (3.3 percent) of Americans have smoked crack cocaine, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. However, only 467,000 (0.2 percent) of Americans reported smoking crack cocaine in the last thirty days. If crack were instantaneously addictive, the number of recent users would be much larger.
    According to the same survey of Americans aged twelve and older, 5.9 percent of individuals who had tried cocaine went on to be “current users” (reported use within the past thirty days). The same statistic for crack use was also 5.9 percent. These numbersshow no statistical difference in the tendency toward the future use of cocaine and crack.
    Again, there is no pharmacological difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Crack cocaine is simply powder cocaine that has been converted into a solid “rock” form that may be smoked. The effects of smoking crack cocaine may be more intense, but this is a result of the mode of ingestion rather than the drug’s purity. Regardless, it is difficult to rationalize the extreme sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine.
    Similarly, crack is perceived not only to be more addictive but more deadly. The misuse of any drug (legal or illegal) can be detrimental to your health. However, it is simply not true to claim that crack cocaine is a major cause of death. The percentage of deaths attributed to
all
illegal drugs