18 Things That Are Supposedly As Addictive As Cocaine Or Heroin

    If you believe everything you read in the news, that is. Which – SPOILER – you shouldn't.

    1. Cannabis.

    2. Sugar.

    3. Oreos.

    4. Fast food.

    5. Fatty foods.

    6. World of Warcraft.

    7. Online games generally.

    8. Carbs.

    9. Cupcakes.

    10. Power.

    11. Soda.

    12. Ice cream.

    13. High fructose corn syrup.

    14. Exercise.

    15. Smartphones.

    16. Love.

    17. Porn.

    18. Sunshine.

    And here's why you should be sceptical of headlines like that.

    Lots of them are often based on a misunderstanding of what addiction is, uncertainty over how you would even measure "addictiveness", and an oversimplified description of what the brain chemical dopamine does – as clinical psychologist Vaughan Bell has written rather a lot.