Godbey: Addiction more common than you may think

By Jack Godbey

Columnist

I was flipping through the television channels looking for episodes of “Mama’s Family” when I stopped on the news and heard that drug addictions are at an all-time high. Even prescription drugs are being abused. It’s not like we are being bombarded with commercials for the next new drug that show people living their best life. You can have that life too. All you have to do is swallow our little pill. No thank you.  It has always interested me that some drugs are considered bad by society while others are totally acceptable, and we consume them without a second thought.

After pondering on this, It seems that everybody is addicted to something. Me, well I’m addicted to bologna sandwiches. Try and take it away and you’ll have a fight on your hands. However, that wasn’t exactly what I was talking about. If you don’t believe you’re addicted to a drug, then go ahead and skip that morning cup of coffee and start your day without that jolt of caffeine. My wife has a shirt that says, “I don’t have a caffeine problem, I drink caffeine and there’s no problem” I certainly am not going to be the one to stand between her and the coffee pot. If I wanted a black eye, I could find a better way to get it.

I am not just picking on coffee drinkers; caffeine is actually added to all sorts of soft drinks as well. Isn’t it a great business idea to add an ingredient to your product that gets the consumer addicted to your product. You can deny being addicted to soda all you want but there’s a reason why we buy it by the case.

I was having a conversation with a friend who had been an avid cigarette smoker for years about his addiction to nicotine. He seemed proud to say that he had finally quit smoking and now all he does is vape. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that vaping still contains nicotine. I’ll let him enjoy his imaginary success story.

I find it interesting that people often don’t realize that sugar is a drug and deny being addicted to it. They deny this while stuffing their mouth with Hershey Kisses. If you don’t believe sugar is addictive, try taking your child’s candy away from them and you’ll see a hissy fit like you’ve never seen before.  Every celebration from birthdays to graduations are celebrated by someone pushing a piece of sugar-soaked cake at you. Talk about peer pressure. If you really like someone, try giving them a stalk of broccoli occasionally.

I remember growing up, people suffering with diabetes were always said to have, “The sugar”. “Did you hear about Uncle Rob, yea, he’s got the sugar”. Sugar has a definite effect on my body when I eat it. It seems to make my belly grow bigger and bigger. We tell ourselves that sugar is not a drug and yet we continue to eat those Little Debbie cakes like Tic Tacs, despite the fact that we will soon have to start buying our britches at the tarp store.

If you come to my house and I offer you a drink, you’ll have to be happy with a can of diet soda. Caffeine free of course.

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