MORE TO ADDICTION THAN 'LUST, GLUTTONY' I read Chris Bours's letter in this space: "Temptation is the root cause of addiction."(Fri, 17, 06) Trying to follow Buors's tortuous thesis is maddening. In general, however; he bemoans the general description, in addiction medicine, of addiction as a "disease." My dictionary, however; defines "disease" as: "1- any departure from health; illness in general. 2- a particular destructive process in an organism, with a specific cause and characteristic symptoms; specific illness; ailment. 3- an evil or destructive tendency or state of affairs: as, bigotry is a *disease* of society." Addiction fits perfectly. That someone, with a manifestly life-threatening condition, should be described as "diseased" apparently rends Buors's world apart. Why? He gives no clue of his authority or interest in addiction, we only know that he wants it put down to personal responsibility, that he thinks of it as "lust and gluttony." One suspects Buors is an expert on everything. Some people simply cannot restrain the impulse to share their superiority with the rest of us. Addicts need our help, deserve our help, if we be Christian people. If we can bankroll the entire world we can take care of our addicted family-members. What we call their condition is irrelevant. I think we should, indeed, leave it to the medical sciences than to the Chris Buors of the world. DAVE MICHON Eau Claire, WI
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