Addiction quiz

While drugs are sometimes the most appropriate means for curing or controlling medical or psychological illnesses, even the most grateful of patients can be sobered by their expense, dependency and side effects (which rise with the increasing dosages needed to overcome tolerance, in some cases).

Of course, it's hard to even consider being free of these burdens when one sees no other way to ease their pain--but one can start by realizing that there are others who find these drawbacks unacceptable and have been determined to go through what they had to in order to find other cures.

How can you tell if someone close to you suffers from such an addiction?

1. Upon hearing of an injustice, do they think that only a new law will protect the oppressed, regardless of the maze of bureaucrats it must face in enforcement, or the leverage of special interests in crafting the law's details?

2. Upon learning that a recent law had unintended consequences, do they maintain that only more regulation can fix the problem that regulation started? Or do they defend the excesses of their own party by stating that the other side is worse?

3. Are they dismissive when you suggest that the problem can be better tackled at its root (e.g., via an information campaign), with far fewer side effects?

4. Do they hold to the notion that certain services must be provided for little or no cost to everyone, regardless of the inconvenience and restrictions that must be imposed along the way?

If so, they may be addicted to collective solutions at the expense of individual choices. If they partake at all of any "New Age" or other faith, you might try appealing to the notion of exercising one's God-given freedom of choice as part of the growth process.