On that note, does anyone know anything about the impact of internet use in drug addiction (and crime)? I have a very speculative hypothesis that internet (social networks, porn, etc) might work as a super-crack, competing with (and crowding out) other addictions because it's cheap, abundant, and instant.
When trying to think about how you might prove this (I'm taking a break from proofreading an acquaintance's criminology paper this very moment), it occurred to me that by virtue of keeping people off the streets, the Internet will decrease arrest and other criminal statistics simply by decreasing exposure to predatory police who have arrest statistics to maintain.
Taking that further, it could mean the focus is even more intense on those who do go out, and when you go out. I suppose you could try to measure this by finding historical statistics on where people spend their time, inside our homes our outside. After dealing with confounding factors like decreased employment.
Non-substance addictions (including internet use) lack the physical dependence created by drugs like cocaine. So, it would be hard to compare them to "super-crack".
I could certainly see how, for example, repeatedly checking your phone could mirror the behavioral aspect of smoking cigarettes. However, losing your phone won't cause withdrawal symptoms like headache, nausea, or fatigue.
Also, I'd agree that social behavior being focused around online interaction could potentially serve as a deterrent (or at least distraction) from drug use / crime. Based on Todd Kendall's paper [Pornography, Rape, and the Internet](http://idei.fr/sites/default/files/medias/doc/conf/sic/paper...), porn has been responsible in some part for the decreasing rate of rape, but not other crimes. I can't find much research on non-rape crime being affected by internet use, but the St. Helena TV study by Tony Charlton did show that aggressiveness in children was reduced by the introduction of TV. Obviously TV is far less interactive than web-browsing, but it's the most similar study I can find. :P
"Physical dependence" with respect to addiction really is nothing. Substances that create physical withdrawal symptoms can certainly be very very unpleasant (even dangerous), but if they were at all the main factor in addiction, drug abuse treatment would be a glorious, happy, incredibly successful industry.
Think about it: Even the worst "physically addictive" substances, let's say heroin, will be completely clear from physically in 7-10 days. Two weeks tops. Anybody can put up with that and, in fact, many addicts do it all the time. If that was the differentiating factor, locking up an addict would work because they would come to their "senses" after no longer physically dependent. Obviously, that's not how it is. Real addiction is something much deeper and cognitively still mysterious. Physical withdrawal (those first two weeks of hell) is called, in the treatment community, the easy part.
I think when most people use the "physical dependence" reference like you did, they are really trying to categorize and emphasize (internally or externally) that among substances and behaviors that are addictive, certain ones more often consume a persons entire being. This process is still a complete mystery and even if people can't or won't accept the amazing power and bizarre scope of cognitive function...it is certainly not 'physical dependence' and I therefore don't think there is any real need to continue with that minor classification.
You're on the right track here, but opiates and alcohol also create a lingering hell for the sufferer called PAWS. The longer a person abuses a substance, the longer PAWS lasts. It is not uncommon for PAWS to last a year or more.
To be successful, a person has to somehow manage & deal with PAWS, while also facing life, and the deeper causes of their addiction. This is why I am an advocate of recovery that includes bupenorphrine. It allows a person who has the right motivations the space to recover.
It is an unjust tragedy the way this country/world treats people who suffer from addiction.
