Can/do you have fun without it? Are there situations where you feel like you need alcohol for. Addiction isn't just "addicted" and "not addicted" there's thousands of degrees between them and in my opinion it seems more important that you aren't worried about your addiction label, worry about if you're being rational with your use. If the cons out way the pros and you keep doing it you aren't being rational and that's where I try to draw the line.

Also you can be addicted in various ways and different reasons. Example, you could be coping with depression or hardships or life/society (I find or our society {humans not just Americans, everyone on this planet} very saddening and depression because of various things like how greed, jealousy, and gluttony seems to be the motive for everything. There's good too but I seem to see mostly bad. Which could motivate you to use your doc ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ).

You could be going after the feeling of the substance/activity ("chasing the high") which is quite common. The bad thing about this is because almost all drugs build a some form of tolerance and there are diminishing returns so after a while you aren't getting as good of a high but usually the sides persist and go up with the dosage and frequency. This I feel is looked down upon the most hence "crackhead" being a negative comment used a lot by people. Usually this one is drugs (opiates, alcohol, benzos, stims, etc) to get high/euphoria/feels but sex addiction would be an ex of non drugs but if they're addicted to the it's all similar

Another reason would be feeling like it's helping and/or necessary to "do" things (includes everything from physical health to mental stuff like confidence to talk or get something done better/faster). This is where things get gray and sticky, since some time people legitimately to gain from there addiction.

Example, person with adhd/severe lack of motivation using amphetamines for productivity and concentration which I think is fine but it's "Addiction" when those things are not doable when sober and you think you need it or you aren't able to do it. Ex2, using something like alcohol for confidence/social yet when sober you refrain from being social because you don't have something delicious to drink.

I feel this reason is more socially acceptable than the others since you are not rolling around on the ground high as balls not taking care of your life. This is how a lot of addictions start quietly in the background til you HAVE TO GO TO CAR RIGHT FUCKING NOW and do a damn line just so you have the energy to listen to your boss tell you you've been acting weird .... lol got carried away

There are many more but you get the idea needing or fiendishness = Addiction.

I don't think addiction is necessarily bad or wrong though because it's usually started to fix a problem or something negative which works (at least for a little bit) and the pros actually do outweigh the cons for some and although it isn't strictly needed the person sees some benefit from using/continuing use and this I think is good as long as it's sustained and rational.

Personally I'm "addicted" to meth(definitely not high while writing this paper of a comment lol), not too bad but still and other random stims /sweet sweet dopamine flowing through me. I started using regular amphetamine and some amp analogs at work because I was constantly told I was slow and my performance is bad so I decided to try some at work because of how easy it made monotonous tasks and I was more efficient, more social, and not tired from being up all day (I worked nights) taking care of my family and then going to work on very low sleep and exhausted to the point where falling asleep on the way/at work happened and regularly and hardly had the energy to be productive and social. Sooo naturally amphetamines were the answer for seemingly all of my problems which I had been looking for since middle school. I self diagnosed my self a while ago with possibly add/adhd and I had a single therapy session where the doc said "I most likely did have some attention/motivation/depression issues" but I never went back because anxiety and life shitting down my throat soo I might a be normal (my opinion these things are normal just not "optimal")... but I digress all that matters is I like to go fast :)

Anyways I got a promotion, I was spending time with my family during the day, being productive, and I was good at everything! All thanks to my secret little chems and everything was actually working out. There were/are negative impacts on my health as well. There's no free lunch, you pay for everything. First negative was repressed apatite which caused me to lose a little bit of baby fat before I took control of it which I can confidently say I did. Second was tolerance and lowered regular dopamine levels but not too bad at first since my doc 2-fma was is rather gentle sides wise; tired afterwards, irritability, etc similar too caffeine sides I guess and then tolerance went up pretty slow til it stopped after I found a comfortable functional dose I didn't go higher since I wasn't trying to get high.

Months later of this continued and my SO'S depression/possible manic depressive/ possible bi polor started getting pretty bad where we fought a lot and we quite poor btw which is why I needed to work so much. Then one day she "snapped" (I say snapped because when she does this stuff it's out of nowhere or about such little things that I'm never ready) and attempted to commit suicide when I went to grab something in town. While out she sent a message with her intentions. When I got home she was on the floor very out of it. She had taken a large amount of her prescription meds if it matters but I called the ambulance and she was fine but she was heavily suggested by a government agency to go to a mental health clinic a few hours away.. I'm not asking for sympathy or making excuses just background. Well I didn't take very well to her attempt and removal (however brief) from home which caused my mild depression to significantly get worse along with my other probs so while she was locked up the first day I was hurt I guess and really fucking confused but I have shit to do and I didn't have to to shit to do so I started with a large dose of 2-fma and it kinda helped but 2fma is mostly stimulation and mild euphoria so it didn't make me feel better just helped distract myself..

For the record I do/have done quite a bit of drugs I guess I used to consider myself a psychonaut of sorts so I have a large interest in drugs anyways. Meth is something I've wanted to try for some time. I knew all the propaganda was bullshit so I wasn't scared of it, I just figured I was content with my current "softer" stims but I what I knew was that it's considered the king of stims and one of the more powerful/euphoric drugs so I was curious. I pulled the plug and got a g right before my SO got out of the mental health center and I was feeling pretty abandoned and sad. I decided I do a little line to see how it goes and Holy fuck the burn distracted me for a sec before I felt the familiar amphetamine drive coming on but it was different. Like it had more power to my brain than regular and it felt so clear. perfect. But what i wanted and got was almost immediately being forced into a good mood. I wasn't feeling bad for myself I was lifted from my problems. I looked good. My girl was getting out. I was okay with being poor and practically living off our familys. That shit didn't even matter to me I had things to do so that's what occupied my mind. Ended up binging on that g for week high as balls the whole time and then I came down. Not too hard but I was to tired to do much so I slept it off and a few days go by an my girlfriend has been out but we hadn't really talked I just sat there for the most not sure if I should be mad sad or what and I had put myself in the thoughloop that i had to leave bc I was thinking that It was necessary for her health so at work I decided to do it when I got home but also thought that I might it worse which caused me to lose my shit so I went to my friend after work and I really needed to calm down