CHEMICAL ABUSERS, AND THOSE DEPENDENT, NEED DIFFERENT CARE

Between 10 percent and 15 percent of the U.S. population has the genetic
predisposition to become chemically dependent.

"People who are dependent may not do as much alcohol drugs or for as long
(as an abuser)," said Lee Holcomb, a therapist in the chemical dependency
department at Alliance Hospital.

"When they try to quit, they stop. But they have another part of the
disease, the mental obsession, which keeps them coming back to it," Holcomb
said.

Worse yet, alcohol or other drugs can work as catalysts to trigger the
disease of dependence.

"The person who drinks heavily, but who is not necessarily debilitated, may
experience some of the same symptoms as an addict," said Dudley Mutziger, a
certified alcohol drug counselor at Alliance.

"But when they stop - either through substances or consequences - they are
not driven back (to drink or to drugs)," Mutziger said. "But those with the
disease do not have that capacity." Such individuals are often viewed as
"having a religious deficit," Mutziger said, or lack of will power.

"But it actually has to do with brain chemistry," he said.

And because of this, individuals with a predisposition to the disease - and
the use of alcohol or drugs - require a different method of treatment.