[Catspaw]

Anyway, there's a big difference between "having a nose like a Hoover" and becoming addicted to a prescription drug in the course of medical treatment for chronic pain.

What difference is that? Is Rush any less addicted, or is he a higher class of addict because his drug of choice was an opiate rather than cocaine?

[knuthom]

This is the difference. The recreational addict got addicted doing something completely avoidable. He knew it was bad for him and did it anyway. It was strictly a hedonistic thing.

The medical user starts off doing something that the doctor prescribes to help him. He is not doing it to get high, but to control pain. The intent is completely different, even if the result may be the same.

[aruanan]

What difference is that? Is Rush any less addicted, or is he a higher class of addict because his drug of choice was an opiate rather than cocaine?

It's the difference between accidental homicide and a premeditated murder. You may as well be asking "What difference is that? Is the person any less dead?"