"Scientists develop vaccine to block effects of addictive drugs..." That was the headline used on Yahoo! for an article that's been removed (or moved).

I find it kind of funny how in this age of humanity we look so much towards medicine for cures, that we forget the things we already have. In this case, will power is the subject. Anyone who says they can't battle addiction because it's a physical thing, well so is your brain, believe it or not. Buddhist monks can set themselves on fire in protest, sacrificing their lives, physically overcoming their primal instinct for survival for the betterment of the whole, but some people think they "can't" stop drinking.

Sure, they "can't" stop drinking or they'll be depressed which may in turn kill them, but they could use their will power to find something else to replace that drinking, or replace that drinking with a repetition of "will power exercise," exercising the will power, showing herself how powerful her will power is.

When people say they "can't," I think they're at least almost always wrong. So it is implied there is a reason. For example someone says they can't go to the store, it's implied there's a reason, especially more so because it's an activity most people perceive as something possible, so the sensation of implied reason, is typically mutual. However when someone says they "can't" quit smoking, it's typically an area shrouded in mystery. No one really knows why they can't quit smoking. Doctors lead people to believe nicotine physically bonds the person to smoking, however, doctors, although it being their ethical duty, somehow usually forget to inform those they tell of the enormous power of their will power, that it's their own will power preventing them from quitting smoking...

Somewhere subconsciously peoples minds, they're not letting themselves quit smoking. I don't give a care how many doctors who are nicotine experts says the nicotine compels you, your will power is more than a thousand times more powerful than any nicotine. Your body may not be that powerful (to my knowledge...) but if a persons will power has the potential strength enough to destroy its own body, imagine how the minuscule any grasp nicotine could ever hold pales in comparison to the strength of will power. Controlling our own will power (from my experience) is most possible through controlling our thoughts.

In this age of medicine, we give a lot of thought to our body's, but what about our minds? Why aren't doctors knowledgeable to the point where they can educate their patients beyond "the patch" for nicotine or "detox program" for heroine. There are plenty of people in the world who are fine examples of cold-turkey (mind power) quitters.

Be a quitter, it's ok. Sometimes quitting is winning.

Sometimes I really think some doctors just give patients pills to make the pains go away and really think that kind of write off (via prescription) is the best way to solve the human problem, addiction.

It doesn't have to be a Mad World.