The Coffee Junkie’s Guide to Caffeine Addiction. Caffeine's a hell of a drug. In fact, it's the world's most popular psychoactive drug. And more and more of us are getting hooked on the stuff.
posted on Jul 22, 2008 - View this thread

Josh Hamilton was destined to be an all-star baseball player, selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as the #1 draft pick in the 1999 MLB draft. By 2002, though, he was a bust, beset by injuries, spending his days downing an entire bottle of Crown Royal and snorting cocaine.
posted on Jul 6, 2008 - View this thread

According to a new report, children in Sweden are becoming increasingly concerned by their parents' internet habits. "This summer she has been sitting up all day and all night and she forgets what's important to me. And when she's not at the computer she's like a lost soul. She just looks straight ahead and says nothing. I'm not doing so well." Dr Jerald Block from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland is pushing for internet addiction (and its three subtypes: excessive gaming, sexual preoccupations and e-mail/text messaging) to be included as a common disorder in the next update of the DSM (DSM-V). "The relationship is with the computer. It becomes a significant other to them. They exhaust emotions that they could experience in the real world on the computer... It's much more acceptable for kids to talk about game use, whereas adults keep it a secret. Rather than having sex, or arguing with their wife or husband, or feeding their children, these adults are playing games..."
posted on Jun 26, 2008 - View this thread

The Drug Addiction Paradox "The plants should never have developed toxins that reward animals for eating them, and humans should never have developed a reward mechanism for toxic plants"... De-evolution or Idiotic Design?
posted on Apr 17, 2008 - View this thread

"By their drugs shall ye know them." I always thought that nootropics would change the face of the academy, but it turns out scholars are getting high on Adderall. Is that so bad? Well, it's an addictive amphetamine, and it's supposedly cheating when students to take advantage of chemical assistance. Plus, boredom is good for you.
posted on Mar 12, 2008 - View this thread

Arelia Margarita Taveras “made a name for herself representing the families of victims of American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed in New York City's borough of Queens in November 2001, killing 265 people.^#+ Her practice had 400 clients and earned her $500,000 a year.” She claims that she sought to relieve the pressures of her work by gambling in Atlantic City and Las Vegas over the past few years. She lost $1 million and was disbarred as a result of stealing money from clients [PDF] in order to support her gambling addiction. Taveras also lost her own home and that of her parents (who mortgaged it to support her debt). Taveras owes the IRS $58,000. In response she has filed a $20 million racketeering lawsuit in federal court against six Atlantic City casinos and one in Las Vegas, “claiming they had a duty to notice her compulsive gambling problem and cut her off.”
posted on Mar 9, 2008 - View this thread

I honestly do not remember a time in my life when I didn't have headaches Wilco's Jeff Tweedy discusses his lifelong battle with migraines, panic attacks, depression, drug addiction, and the influences of all on his music.
posted on Mar 8, 2008 - View this thread

When the working poor turn to addictive drugs to manage pain so they can keep working, that's "moral weakness, not a public health problem.":

Every morning before sunup, Trapp drives 120 miles.... "This methadone makes you feel like a human being again," Trapp says. With disability rates as high as 37 percent in coal-mining areas such as Buchanan County, the region has many people with long-term pain management needs. As is the case with lots of aging miners, Trapp's addiction to pills began in a doctor's office, not a back-alley drug deal.... The clinic's counseling staff members say that many patients need to be on some sort of drug to cope with severe, long-term pain and that methadone has made them functional. And for those who lack insurance or access to more personalized care, it is often the only affordable option.

Cocaine vaccine in the works
posted on Jan 5, 2008 - View this thread

Sad, head-down legendary jazz piano. (Single-link YouTube) More Bill and the Wiki. [Previously] Hopefully more of a reminder than a double.
posted on Oct 25, 2007 - View this thread

Alexyss Tylor was right! Semen is a powerful drug. (Fairly SFW, text-only link.)
posted on Jul 18, 2007 - View this thread

Recognizing Pain Management as a Fundamental Human Right. These pieces from the journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society argue that under-treated chronic pain is becoming a public health crisis which must be addressed. But a warning to pain doctors in the U.S. who prescribe opioids in doses that seem high to narcotics agents and prosecutors: “Be afraid.” [Via Hit & Run and TalkLeft.]
posted on Jul 8, 2007 - View this thread

Unusual ways of getting high: deliberately being bitten on the tongue by a cobra; injecting spider venom.
posted on May 11, 2007 - View this thread

"Troy is only 8, but he knows the words to Yanguna, an Arnhem Land song celebrating kava. He sings in tune with Saltwater Band's anthem to the drug as the car bumps along the dirt track. Kava came to Arnhem Land 20 years ago as a ray of hope. Aboriginal community leaders believed the calming drink from the Pacific could be a peaceful alternative to alcohol, then raging through Aboriginal communities like a cyclone. But kava became just another abused substance.”
posted on May 1, 2007 - View this thread

Europeans love to bash American chocolate - especially Hershey's - almost as much as the like to bash, erm, America in general (apparently, it tastes like doggie treats). Recently, Big Chocolate have asked the FDA if they can stop using real cocoa butter in the chocolate-making process, which can only make it taste even worse. I often wonder how many so-called chocoholics know that most of the chocolate they eat was probably picked by slave labour in West Africa. Child slaves, even. Meh, they probably don't care: research indicates that chocolate is 'four times better than kissing'. Never trust a junkie.
posted on Apr 23, 2007 - View this thread

XXXChurch.com At 8 o'clock on a recent Saturday morning, more than 250 men gathered at New Life Christian Church in Morton, Illinois, for a breakfast of porn and pancakes.
posted on Apr 5, 2007 - View this thread

China is taking steps to curb Internet addiction. This isn't the first time they have moved to regulate use. Are you addicted?
posted on Mar 12, 2007 - View this thread

In 1971 Delancey Street began with four residents, a thousand dollar loan, and a dream to develop a new model to turn around the lives of substance abusers, former felons, and others who have hit bottom by empowering the people with the problems to become their own solution. With no professionals, no government funding, and at no charge to the clients, Delancey Street Foundation has rehabilitated and provided job skills to thousands of former drug addicts and criminals. They have a successful moving company, a well loved (although not necessarily critically acclaimed) restaurant, a thriving Christmas tree business, and a partnership with the local state university. Founded in the heady radical days of the early 70s, they've had a few bumps along the way, (cofounder John Maher died of a drug overdose) but they are one of the most well respected models for rehabilitation in the world. In recent news, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has been spending a lot of time there.
posted on Feb 25, 2007 - View this thread

Chile Pepper's Lonely Endorphins Club Cinema: I, II, III

Can all this be explained by Dr. Paul Rozin's Benign Masochism / Constrained Risk theory? I, for one, am not buying it, but any way you slice it, hot cock sauce is here to stay.
posted on Feb 23, 2007 - View this thread

Ryan Larkin [1943-2007]
posted on Feb 17, 2007 - View this thread

Pr0n at Work = Addiction? Spawning from such cases as a recent lawsuit with IBM over employee termination due to online sex chatting at work, recent debate over whether Internet abuse is a legitimate addiction, akin to alcoholism, is heating up. Attorneys say recognition by a court—whether in this or some future litigation—that Internet abuse is an uncontrollable addiction, and not just a bad habit, could redefine the condition as a psychological impairment worthy of protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Businesses would be required to allow medical leave and provide counseling. The condition could even make it into the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association's DSM, making it a full-blown neurosis. It wouldn't be a complete surprise, with a recent Stanford study showing that 14% of people state it would be "hard to stay away" from the net for a few days in a row.
posted on Dec 14, 2006 - View this thread

For most musicians, it's difficult to pinpoint a particular event that forever sullied their image and destroyed their popularity. For 80's rocker Billy Squier, however, the reason is clear. [YouTube]
posted on Aug 11, 2006 - View this thread

Prolific Canadian Is King of Wikipedia Simon Pulsifer, posting as SimonP, is reported to be "the world's most prolific author on...Wikipedia,with 78,000 entries edited and 2,000 to 3,000 new articles to his name." Although highly regarded by his fellow Wikipedians, Pulsifer describes his 3- to 4-hour-a-day efforts as "an addiction".
posted on Aug 6, 2006 - View this thread

"Not today, sir, probably not tomorrow": Alternatively titled "Me and My Shadow, Part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX"; the long, touching, interesting, hilarious, disturbing story of how 'Jay' kicked his drug habit, written by 'Silent Bob', aka Kevin Smith.
posted on Jul 20, 2006 - View this thread

New research finds that the human brain registers the avoidance of an anticipated punishment in pretty much the same way as it registers a reward. (See this link for a less technical discussion of the research.) Do these findings suggest that the use of punishment as a deterrent to undesirable behavior in effect actually motivates the undesirable behavior (as opposed to the use of negative reinforcement, or in other words, the withholding of reward)? Do punishment-oriented models of socialization/behaviorial conditioning actually encourage cheating, by in effect selecting for better cheaters?
posted on Jul 12, 2006 - View this thread

The Australian cigarette health warnings have pretty much filtered down to every retail packet that's bought now. They're pretty gruesome and some smoking acquaintances cover them up with stickers. I thought I'd have a look around and see what other countries warnings were like. None of them were pulling any punches except for Uruguay.
posted on May 17, 2006 - View this thread

Remember life before the internet? How did anyone cope?
posted on Mar 30, 2006 - View this thread

75 hard-core alcoholics to be offered apartments. Seventy-five alcoholics... are about to get an invitation to move into a new apartment building all their own on the edge of downtown Seattle. At tax payer's expense. What's different about this homeless shelter? The residents will be allowed to drink alcohol, provided they do it in their rooms. [.PDF]

"As much as we want it to work, the idea of asking a hard-core population of chronic alcoholics, for example, to put down the bottle before they get a set of apartment keys is unrealistic and impractical." Predictably, the project was not without opposition. [bugme]
posted on Dec 19, 2005 - View this thread

The Neopets Addiction: Neopets.com has a staggering 25 million members worldwide... Four out of five Neopians are under age 18, and two out of five are under 13... Neopets calls its model "immersive advertising... an evolutionary step forward in the traditional marketing practice of product placement."... Kalle Lasn, editor in chief of the advertising watchdog magazine Adbusters says, "It's the most insidious mind-fuck ever."
posted on Dec 7, 2005 - View this thread

I want some m#%$fu#%in chocolate milk! [google video - course language] If he played with his mother, he'd never talk to her like that. Maybe the kid is addicted, maybe he's just a spoil sport.
posted on Nov 20, 2005 - View this thread

We believe that a power greater than Sid Meier can restore us to sanity. Yeah, World of Warcraft may currently be ruining your life, but I'd bet good money that over the long haul Civilization and other games by Sid Meier have ruined more lives than that upstart. Don't give in! NO MORE TURNS!
posted on Oct 26, 2005 - View this thread

Pink Is The New Blog I don't know why I like it. I just do.
posted on Aug 8, 2005 - View this thread

Psychoactive Drugs for the Future Could brain-boosting drugs become as common as coffee?
UK government group Foresight have just released their 'Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs Project' in which the aim was to evaluate:
"How can we manage the use of psychoactive substances in the future to best advantage for the individual, the community and society?"
The report can be viewed in its entirety from here. Direct link to the Executive Summary (.pdf) via
posted on Jul 15, 2005 - View this thread

'I haven't seen a porno film in 20 years or more. No need to. I got my wife'.
Harry Reems tells about his struggle to survive Deep Throat.
posted on May 22, 2005 - View this thread

M. Scott Peck: I'm a prophet, not a saint M. Scott Peck, author of the ultimate self-help manual, has Parkinson’s and his wife of 43 years has walked out. Interesting profile of M. Scott Peck, the best-selling self-help author who preached self-discipline and delayed gratification despite being a smoker, a drinker, and an adulterer. Via Bookslut. (Possibly nsfw drawing of nude woman.)
posted on May 11, 2005 - View this thread

Bees, Brains and Addiction
Tin Cans and Your Prostate
Salty Staircase and Ocean Mixing
posted on May 3, 2005 - View this thread

Confessions of an EBay opium addict - Like anyone trolling the Internet at 4 a.m., I had been looking for some kind of temporary drug fix. I found it on eBay under Crafts>Floral Supplies>Flowers, Foliage>Dried. (via Alternet)
posted on Apr 5, 2005 - View this thread

Remember Shawn Woolley? In November of 2001, Shawn committed suicide. His mother blamed EverQuest. Others placed the burden on internet addiction. But nobody blamed his computer ...

Nobody, that is, except L K Tucker. According to Mr Tucker, the blinking lights on Shawn's computer triggered an episode of SPVP (Subliminal Peripheral Vision Psychosis ) -- and he may not be the only victim. SPVP could be the culprit behind other college suicides and student disappearances. It manifests in ICUs, yoga sessions and in airplane cockpits -- but rarely in the office. Why, you ask? Because of Cubicle Level Prevention, my friend. Cubicle Level Protection.
posted on Feb 7, 2005 - View this thread

Stuck Like Chuck - A Philadelphia writer's sad, brief but captivating observations of another's seemingly constant return to self-destruction; in turn, unflinchingly relating his own struggle.
posted on Feb 4, 2005 - View this thread

Speaking Of weight loss and exercise... Those who like their booze also like their nicotine. People who drink to excess also tend to be chronic smokers, and a new report suggests the combination of the two might prove more toxic than either one alone. a small study found chronic smoking + alcohol dependence = increased severity of brain damage. The frontal lobes (short-term storage sites) turn out to be the most damaged. A separate study used rats to show that alcoholism and excessive food intake may share the same chemical pathways in the brain. Forbes has the HealthDayNews report that focuses mainly on the smokes, MSNBC looks more at the eats. They also have an interesting Addictions Sections. Could it be that some folks are just prone to addictions and everyone settles on something different?
posted on Dec 17, 2004 - View this thread

Addiction to porn is destroying lives, Senate told. Experts compare the effect on the brain to that of heroin or crack cocaine.
posted on Nov 19, 2004 - View this thread

They called me ‘Crack Baby’ - An issue of the foster care youth magasine Represent (March/April 2004) takes on the media myths and realities of being the child of an addict. [via a&ldaily and PY]
posted on Nov 14, 2004 - View this thread

Do you suffer from chapped, crack lips? Are you an addict? You may well be, and not even know it. Read how these evil peddlers hook the kids... and then move onto the adults. But never fear - you can always follow the 12 steps.
posted on Nov 9, 2004 - View this thread

The Face of Addiction New anti-drug posters in London show the physical decline caused by taking Crack.
posted on Nov 2, 2004 - View this thread

Ryan is a documentary about Oscar nominee/animator Ryan Larkin, who now panhandles on the streets of Montreal. A preview clip is at the far right of the photo gallery.
posted on Jun 4, 2004 - View this thread

Viewing porn will make you want to kill, kill. KILL. And Dr, Science will prove it. He has a degree in science.
posted on May 20, 2004 - View this thread

At the recent Digital Games Research Conference held at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands, Florence Chee and Richard Smith presented a paper on Everquest and its implications for addiction policy. Here's the full text and a decent summary here.
posted on Nov 7, 2003 - View this thread

Painkillers destroy hearing - Looks like America's fascination with Vicodin, Oxycotin, and other hardcore painkillers has a lasting effect other than addiction. Studies are showing that "rapid hearing loss, even deafness, in some patients who are misusing the drugs". This is serious enough for Vicodin's manufacturer to add a "warning about the potential for hearing loss to the drug's label."

Is Rush Limbaugh's sudden deafness and recent involvement in a painkiller drug investigation simply a coincidence?
posted on Oct 3, 2003 - View this thread

Tripping on iboga: author Daniel Pinchbeck describes his experience with the psychedelic drug tabernanthe iboga, which is used in the rituals of the Bwiti in West Africa. Ironically, the active chemical in iboga, the indole alkaloid ibogaine, is said to be useful in the treatment of drug addiction (PDF.)
posted on Sep 18, 2003 - View this thread

"Vancouver has opened North America's first legal shooting gallery for drug addicts." -for all you poor saps where guns are a part of your everyday vocabulary, NO that's not a place where drug addicts shoot guns.- this is a pilot program supported by all levels of government in BC and in Canada, where addicts can inject drugs in a supervised, clean environment. The purpose of which ultimately I think is to bridge the huge gap between "them" and "us" and possibly shrink the distance addicts have to reach through for help. Does my heart bleed for "them"? Absolutely not. You choose your weapon, you suffer the consequences. But what this could lead to is less addicts and therefore less reason for addicts to commit crimes to support their addictions...
posted on Sep 16, 2003 - View this thread