Consider also Dennis Kezar, "Shakespeare's Addictions," Critical Inquiry 30
(Autumn 2003): 31-62. Kezar cites John Marston's 1599-1600 play Antonio and
Mellida as one of the first instances of the "modern"-use of addiction. He
also proposes an interesting definition or redefinition of addiction: "the
emphatic ascription of agency and causality to time-bound matter that
cannot completely support such investment." The word "completely" takes
care of the question of chemistry, but he's more interested in the
subject-position of the addict, the person who "appears so hopelessly
confused about the boundaries between matter and metaphor."

Jay Williams