# The "House" depiction of drug abuse

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-house-depiction-of-drug-abuse/496604>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 16, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-house-depiction-of-drug-abuse/496604 "2009-05-16T02:53:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-house-depiction-of-drug-abuse/496604/21 "2009-05-16T23:43:54Z")

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If you are a type I diabetic and you don’t use insulin you probably will die.

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**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-house-depiction-of-drug-abuse/496604/22 "2009-05-16T23:45:49Z")

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> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> I’ve had pain medication prescribed to me for legitimate reason, and it definitely helped. But the stuff is ridiculously _good_. I have to agree that just because you have a legit reason for taking it doesn’t mean you can’t become an addict.

Every once in a while mi migraines get so bad that my whole back becomes a Gordian knot. Trip to the ER and they give some injections and 3 seconds later WOW, my whole body is relaxed … I always asked the nurse “can I have one to go?” or some not-so-over-the-counter painkillers.

Never having taken any psychoactice drugs I can only imagine the feeling must be with “real” drugs".

> [@Chief\_Pedant](#):
>
> On the point of dependency, one might just as well say the insulin-dependent diabetic is “addicted” to insulin. The drug is required to keep the patient’s symptoms closer to a normal physiology.
> 
> On the point of “abuse” I wonder what the difference is between eating a piece of chocolate because it satisfies a craving and taking hydrocodone for the same reason…

My brother-in-law is diabetic and he tells me that some eat sweets like crazy (say, 5 bars of chocolate) and then pop some insulin - in a moment of weakness.  
(yeah, yeah, anecdote, data, I know)

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**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-house-depiction-of-drug-abuse/496604/23 "2009-05-17T03:42:41Z")

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The definitions of addiction that make the most sense to me focus on when the substance or behavior becomes a compulsive or obsessive one.

If taking pain medication is really a response to pain, then I’d say it’s not an addition, even if some physical dependency is involved. I think people with chronic pain are there when they start taking their meds because they _might_ hurt. (And I don’t mean in the sense of “Every time I walk a mile, my leg hurts, so I’ll take a pill before I go shopping,” but in the sense of “I feel great now, but I should take another pill just to make sure.”)

House is fiction so they can try to walk the line in a way that might not really happen. How fun would it be if House screwed up and killed someone every other show or if he was punished for even half of the despicable things he does? The show’s premise seems to be that House is always addicted to something, be it drugs, puzzles, etc. - when he does feel good, he even runs to excess.

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