Abstract
Who is an addict? I have been a retail pharmacist for almost 15 years, and I learned very quickly how to identify an addict, or, more gently stated, I learned how to recognize patients who struggled with substance abuse issues. I saw the patient recovering from surgery who became dependent on opiates, the tired-looking man coming to the pharmacy to buy needles for his “diabetes”, the nervous-looking woman attempting to purchase multiple boxes of pseudoephedrine, the emergency-room-frequenter bringing almost daily prescriptions for painkillers and muscle relaxants. What I failed to realize during all of my years of practice was that the face of addiction would actually be my own.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsAuthor information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Short, D. (2015). The Face of Addiction. In: Kaye, A., Vadivelu, N., Urman, R. (eds) Substance Abuse. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1951-2_44
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1951-2_44
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1950-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1951-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)