From: madlove@arkham.dc   
      
   On 02/19/2015 09:41 PM, Adam wrote:   
   > Madlove  wrote:   
   >> On 02/19/2015 03:22 AM, Vidcapper wrote:   
   >>> On 18/02/2015 21:30, David wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>> Brendon's rep tells TMZ, "Nicholas is, unfortunately, battling a disease   
   >>>> that many of us don't understand.   
   >>   
   >>> Very true - alcoholism is *not* a disease, it is simply a lack of   
   self-control!   
   >>   
   >> Calling it a "disease" helps to take responsibility off the addict. If   
   >> alcoholism is a disease then why aren't heroin, tobacco, and cocaine   
   >> addictions also "diseases".   
   >>   
   >> These days what isn't a "disease" that needs *expensive* treatment?   
   >>   
   >> 1. shopping "addiction"   
   >> 2. sex "addiction"   
   >> 3. TV "addiction"   
   >> 4. porn "addiction"   
   >> 5. internet "addiction"   
      
   > I wasn't aware that you two were medical professionals.   
      
   ---   
      
   Alcoholism: A disease of speculation   
      
   "In 1976, the writer Ivan Illich warned in the book, Limits to Medicine,   
   that 'the medical establishment has become a major threat to health'. At   
   the time, he was dismissed as a maverick, but a quarter of a century   
   later, even the medical establishment is prepared to admit that he may   
   well be right.   
   (Anthony Browne, April 14, 2002, the Observer)"   
      
   History and science have shown us that the existence of the disease of   
   alcoholism is pure speculation. Just saying alcoholism is a disease,   
   doesn't make it true.   
      
   Nevertheless, medical professionals and American culture   
   enthusiastically embraced the disease concept and quickly applied it to   
   every possible behavior from alcohol abuse to compulsive lecturing and   
   nail biting.   
      
   The disease concept was a panacea for many failing medical institutions   
   and pharmaceutical companies, adding billions of dollars to the industry   
   and leading to a prompt evolution of pop-psychology.   
      
   Research has shown that alcoholism is a choice, not a disease, and   
   stripping alcohol abusers of their choice, by applying the disease   
   concept, is a threat to the health of the individual.   
      
   - See more at:   
   http://www.baldwinresearch.com/alcoholism.cfm#sthash.KvUmHN7y.dpuf   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)