True Addicts

Yesterday I made an admonishing gesture to a friend who is still smoking a pack or more of cigarettes each day. Waving my finger at him in passing, I reflected on his
surprising outrage at being called an addict by one of our mutual acquaintances. A smoker myself for twenty years before giving up cigarettes, I certainly consider cigarette smokers addicts.
Only an addict would go to such extraordinary lengths to obtain the source of his addiction. If, for example, I ran out of cigarettes, I would not stop seeking them until I was successful. I recall one Christmas I ran out of them and…