[wardaddy]

Is there at all any difference between the "street" drug addict who initially uses narcotics solely to get high and the addict who was prescribed the drug for a medical condition and subsequently gets hooked

The difference is that the street user started out to get high. Someone like allegedly Rush or Elvis etc. ends up in the same boat as the street user...getting high.

[Bluntpoint]

Many "street" users may have started self-medicating their pyschological afflictions... not taking the drugs just for sh@ts and giggles.

Mental pain is as real and debilitating as physical pain.