I am so thankful that this country funnels billions of dollars into organizations like ASAM each year so they can define, re-define, characterize, classify and label our nation's #1 preventable health care issue [without supporting those attempting to cure it.]

This "new definition" continues to omit ALL of the physical and medical aspects that commonly characterize addiction (a seemingly odd omission coming from an organization dedicated to Medicine.) When a family member is concerned for an addicted loved one's life, they never say "his behavioral control is impaired and his recognition of significant problems with his relationships is diminished." They DO say he's so thin. His stomach hurts all the time. He constantly craves sugar. He has rashes all over. Almost all say if you just look at him you can see how sick he is.

It seems that the statements made by real patients and their families reflect real, organic problems in the BODY of an addict, not just in his hippocampal circuits or nucleus accumbens. While I have no doubt that these neurological parts are severely malfunctioning, I know through years of medical testing that his body is just as impaired if not more. I also know that he is deficient in most essential nutrients, his liver processes are operating out of balance causing a build-up of toxins that will quickly enter his brain and his gut is not able to absorb. Despite these proven medical issues in addicted patients, ASAM's definition reads like a prescription drug ad for depression (you know, the ones that list 800 side effects including suicidal ideation, stroke and PHYISCAL DEPENDENCE.)

The extended form of this definition addresses NOTHING about the physical aspects of this VERY physical disease. I find it sad that our tax dollars are being wasted on organizations that remain short-sighted and stagnated in an archaic worldview that facilitates neglect of those suffering from addiction and infects our treatment industry with an ideological virus that prevents progress and success. Our trying economic times make this lack of sincerity and progress even more upsetting. I propose the American Society for Addiction Medicine be renamed the American Society for Addiction Behavior since there is no mention of anything medical in their perspective of this dynamic, expensive and deadly disease. Then take their funding and just pay addicts to stay off drugs. We might get better results and save paper.