Finished – Dispelling the Myths About Addiction
This is a good first book to read if you're interested in addiction issues. It gives a brief overview of the issues surrounding addiction treatment including brain chemistry, psycho-social factors, public policy and barriers to research. For the most part it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know or hadn't already concluded myself. Some of the brain chemistry stuff did go over my head. I understand basic synaptic function, but I don't know the significance of the more specific structures of the brain. I also found it interesting that with some addictive drugs it's not just about developing a tolerance. They actually rewire the brain to create dependence. Along the same lines, the chemical processes that produce intoxication are separate from the chemical process that produce addiction which are separate form the process that produce tolerance. It's amazingly complex, and that's just the biology piece.
Some interesting statistics from the book:
- The annual cost to society for all types of cancer (1990): $96.1 billion.
- The annual cost to society for alcohol abuse (1990): $98.6 billion
- The annual cost to society for substance abuse (alcohol, nicotine, illicit drugs) (1990): $256.8 billion
- The 1995 research budget for cancer: $1,215.5 million
- The 1995 research budget for substance abuse: $472.1 million
- Higher education is related to decreased drug use.
- Higher education is related to increased alcohol consumption.
- Two thirds of people over the age of 14 drink alcohol.
- Dividing the amount of alcohol produced by the number of alcohol drinkers equates to 10 gallons of whiskey per person annually.
- However, 10% of alcohol drinkers consume 50% of alcohol produced.
- 500mg percent* blood alcohol level is considered fatal, suppressing brain function enough that breathing stops.
- The record non-fatal blood alcohol level is 1500mg percent.
If you'd like to take a shot at calculating how much alcohol you drink in a year, here is a handy liquid measurement conversion calculator. Don't forget your basic alcohol equivalences: 1 12oz. can of beer = 1 5oz. glass of wine = 1 1.5oz shot of whiskey.
Just to give you an idea, a bottle of wine a week is "only" 2.1 gallons of alcohol a year.
*mg/percent is a standard measure for concentration of substances in the blood, but I don't quite understand what it means. Googling "mg percent" demonstrates its wide spread use, but I couldn't find a definition. If any of the more biologically minded out there want to enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.