Is addiction always a sin?

[Bornagain1978]

I am interested in the topic of addiction and its relationship to sin. Take addiction to alcohol, for example, which seems to run in families. My assumption: drunkenness is a sin, primarily because it mars our humanity by diminishing reason and free will. After so much drunkenness–perhaps not too many times–a person takes on a compulsion to drink. At what point does the “sin” of drunkenness become not a sin, but rather an addiction, a compulsion, which by definition does not involve a free choice. Since sinning involves free choice, fully knowledge and offensive matter, is there a line of demarcation for when sin becomes addiction? :

 

[Leonie_Ambrose]

The following link should assist you in better understanding the Catholic Church’s teaching culpability of addiction. If you have any further questions or concerns that are not answered by these links, please [contact Catholic Answers (http://www.catholic.com/home/contact.asp) directly.

Recommended Reading:

• [Am I culpable for addictive sins? (http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=17844)

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