A Note About the Terms “Addicts” and “Alcoholics”
Many people make a distinction between alcoholics and drug addicts either because they don’t view alcohol as a drug or because alcohol is legal, while other drugs are not. But make no mistake, alcohol is a drug, a very powerful one. And to the brain, a drug is a drug is a drug. Its legal status doesn’t change the way it works in the brain. As detailed in the Addiction Science articles, drugs of abuse all share a common neural similarity, they all produce a dopamine high in the brain’s Reward System. That dopamine high is essentially the same experience regardless of what drug is used.
Furthermore, the differences between alcoholics and drug addicts are minor compared to their similarities. What one hears at Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings isn’t substantially different from what’s said at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (except for references to syringes and such).
Not all addicts are alcoholics but all alcoholics are addicts: the terms “addicts” and “alcoholics” are used synonymously in this site.
