>Are you willing to make the same claim about other addicts, smokers, alcoholics, drug users, sex addicts, and so on and so forth? As an addict, yes. Every tim

>Are you willing to make the same claim about other addicts, smokers, alcoholics, drug users, sex addicts, and so on and so forth? As an addict, yes. Every time you indulge it is a choice... Just like every single one of the 100 OCD times I check if my door is locked at night is a choice... If someone walked up to me and said "I'll give you 20$ to not drink today" I'd not drink that day, it would be annoying and I probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a long time, but I would do it. And if you want to claim that "doesn't make you an addict" well then, I guess I don't know what you call it when you drink at least a 6pack or a bottle of wine a day for 10 years is. >Now in the cases of illegal drugs this is the intended effect, and without argument they're some of the most addictive substances we know of. Nice blanket statement. I'd love to see someone get addicted to Mescaline or LSD; I'm fairly positive it's impossible. Not because of a physiological argument, it would just be downright mentally excruciating, just 3 days in a row and I toss the towel. And it's just obviously not the intended effect for lots, like rohypnol, ketamine, dxm. And go ahead and strike that "illegal" bit out. If you think your doctor writing a little rx for it makes it not addictive (in many cases intentionally addictive), you're wrong. And what makes coffee different from coca? What about the neuroeffects of cocoa? You're entire life is drugs, drawing some silly line in the sand with "illegal" is just juvenile. People who have no idea what they're talking about love to chime in on subjects like this. "Oh it's their choice" or "Oh it's impossible for them to make choices" or crap like that. It's a choice the same way studying maths for 10 hours before an exam is for most people -- yes, you can obviously do it, but most people give up after 15 minutes and just skim at their desk. No one runs around calling them mentally ill, when they are legitimately doing their entire life lasting harm by not becoming maths literate. And it's exactly the same chemical interaction, dopamine and serotonin pathways; you don't get that flowing with maths studying, but you do with video games or blasting bongs. Addiction is a stupid label that people and politicians use to demonize behaviors that they dislike. I think that we should solve obesity the same way we solve smokers and other "distastefuls": public shaming, banning from public spaces, specially marked 'fat zones,' etc.