Fruit Flies on Crack

[xoxoxoBruce]

''It's been established the some individuals may be predisposed to addiction,'' Blau added. ''These findings suggest that a specific genetic make-up in humans could further explain why some individuals are more susceptible than others.''

This article talks about research about using fruit flies with mutated genes to test the reaction to crack cocaine specifically but with implications to all addictions.
I still think a lot of addiction is social/psychological, at least at it's inception, but further cracking of the gene code may show why some people are hopelessly trapped by addiction.
Of course not all addictions are a bad thing.....like being addicted to the Cellar.

[Elspode]

Spoken like a man who has never woken up with QWERTY imprinted on his forehead and IOTD on his screen...

[Griff]

This is just recreational for me, I can quite any time I want.

[cowhead]

huh.. interesting.. I mean I knew I was screwed up and all.. this is going to take some thinkin'

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Spoken like a man who has never woken up with QWERTY imprinted on his forehead and IOTD on his screen...

That would not be me. Don't forget the glasses bent and smeared.

[Lady Sidhe]

I've heard that children of addicts are predisposed to becoming addicts themselves. I don't mean crack babies. I mean like, if your parents are alcoholics, you're more likely to become an alcoholic, or addicted to something else.

I think it has something to do with the pleasure threshhold. A higher threshhold means that the organism has to try harder to achieve the same amount of pleasure that normal organisms do.

For instance, I had to deal with alcoholic family members. After high school, I took two years off to do my partying before college. I did a lot of drinking, mostly because when my friends and I went out, it was usually to play pool a the bar. Luckily, I hate the taste of alcohol, so I didn't become addicted. I was also a bartender for 7 years, and I can't stand messy, obnoxious, or mean drunks.

But I definitely have the propensity towards addiction. I'm addicted to cigarettes. I'm addicted to coffee. I can live without coffee for a little while, but if I don't get my cigarettes, I can be a fire-breathing bitch.

I'm sure that environment is a factor in addiction--I hate the taste of booze, so even though I lived with alcoholics, that didn't become my drug of choice--but I also think that you have a hell of a lot higher chance of becoming addicted if there is a family history than if there isn't, because of that higher than normal pleasure threshhold.