ADDICTIONS AND ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS

The following essay will explore the issue of addictions as it affects Canadian society. What are addictions? Are they primarily a cause or a consequence of the social problems associated with them, or are they something of both? What contrasting views and interpretations of addictions have been put forward, and what public policies -- and policy debates -- have resulted from efforts to deal with the addiction issue in Canada.

As will be discussed below, addiction as a concept and a public policy issue has a broader scope than drugs, whether illegal or legally available. As a result, available data do not provide a full view of the scope of the addictions problem in Canada, but deal only with portions of it. However, even these tabulated components demonstrate the extent of the resulting social problem. The report of a conference of addictions specialists held in 2001 found that

Whether measured statistically or in terms of public concern, addic

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al terms as an addiction, even if the abuser shows no signs of withdrawal symptoms if unable to obtain it. Likewise, behavior patterns such as compulsive gambling are regarded as addictions from a social and public-policy standpoint, even though gambling has nothing to do with a chemical response to any drug. In popular, casual usage, the term is often stretched to the point where it ceases to have any useful meaning. Thus we speak of someone being "addicted to love," or relationships. However, the use of addiction for behavior problems such as problem drinking when not associated with true chemical dependency, or even to non-drug self-destructive behaviors such as compulsive gambling, appears to be reasonable and justified. A recent workshop of addiction researchers concluded, for example, that "Problem gambling is an emerging phenomenon that is closely related to other addictive behaviours. The widespread expansion of legalized gambling has been linked to rising rates of dependence, family problems and suicide" ("Canadian Addictions Researcher Workshop," 2002, p. 5). Indeed, in previous centuries the word was commonly used in this broader sense, only acquiring its technical meaning of chemical dependency in recent tim
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Approximate Word count = 1839
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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