The term addiction

The term addiction, derived from the Latin root addicere meaning to adore or to surrender oneself to a master, has come into increasing popularity during the last decade. It first came into common usage in the professional literature of the mid-1890s—the same period the terms dope and dope fiend were coming into common slang.²⁵ Dope came into common usage first to refer to any syrupy preparation and later to designate products containing opium and cocaine. The changing view of drug use was reflected in the combining dope with the word friend – a German derivative referring to a diabolically wicked and hated person.²⁶

The term addict, or on occasion, addictee. emerged around 1910 to replace the earlier term, “habitue” used to designate a person suffering from addiction.²⁷ With the popularization of the term alcdholism, the words addiction and addict came to imply drugs other than alcohol, particularly the illicit drugs. But this distinction was not always clear. Some spoke and wrote of addicts, encompassing alcoholics within the meaning of this term, while others spoke of alcoholics and addicts. (White 1998, XV --XVI)

References

White, William L. 1998. Slaying the dragon: The history of addiction treatment and recovery in America /  William L. White. Bloomington, Ill. Chestnut Health Systems.o