Addendum to my last blog:

When I use the word "addict", please don't assume I mean someone who's shooting up or smoking crack. 

And addict is an addict, no matter what the substance. Alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, or any other mood altering (and often illegal) substance or activity (gambling, for instance). It's all addiction. 

An addict will apoologize, make excuses, justify, and rationalize. It's horribly devastating for the people who love them. 

Addict:

A person who is addicted to an activity, habit, or substance: a drug addict.

To cause to become physiologically or psychologically dependent on an addictive substance, as alcohol or a narcotic.

To habituate or abandon (oneself) to something compulsively or obsessively.