However, we have been duped into believing that the drugs themselves cause addiction. This is one of the biggest lies ever peddled, and it is used to prop up the drug war and condemn drug users as worthless junkies.

Wait a second....are you saying that a person who feels safe and happy could take heroin, and they would NOT get addicted? Or are you simply saying a person who feels safe and happy would not likely be TEMPTED to take heroin because he would have no need to escape or feel that "connected" feeling?

We're talking about a huge difference in semantics here. Clarification would be great. Because what you are indirectly implying is that if a "safe" and "happy" person were to consume opiates, it would not have any affect on them, or if it did, it would not have an addictive affect on them.

Is this what you believe? I am fully willing to consider (and already believe) that addiction stems from a place of feeling unsafe and wanting to escape ravages of abuse or trauma or the aftermaths thereof. But tell that to a newborn who is addicted to heroin and must receive methadone treatments exactly at birth in order to survive.

I'm not ready to accept that a drug as powerful as heroine would not cause severe chemical alterations to a brain to the point that this brain would become chemically dependent on it for function.

I'm with you for the most part. I get that not all drug users are junkies. But your approach here and elsewhere seems to justify use of really potentially harmful drugs by demystifying its actual affect on people and blaming society and its ills as the culprit for bad and "addictive" and "adaptive" behavior.

I understand that with addiction comes adaptive and enabling behaviors, including harm to others. And I, too, am perturbed by the myth of some kinds of addictive personality enabling propaganda. But the fact is, the drugs are doing SOMETHING, and that SOMETHING must be feeling pretty good. The question is, is the "something" inherently addictive, or is there something else going on?

You are teetering on some things, and not quite coming out and saying them. So I'd love to hear what you think. I realize I'm coming in on here 2 weeks after it was posted, so maybe you won't see this comment. I'll try you again on another post. But hopefully you catch this! I'd love to hear your thoughts.