Drugs

Well, to be fair, that kinda sounds like a habit (read: not addiction) to me.

This I think is the biggest gray area, the line between habit and addiction.

Take the following hypothetical scenario:
- When I get home from work every day at 6pm, I have the option of doing activity A (which I enjoy 100%) or activity B (which I enjoy 80%). Logically, I will choose activity A, because I enjoy it more than the alternative. This is perfectly reasonable.
- Now imagine that every day for a year, when I get home after work at 6pm, I choose to do activity A instead of activity B, because every day I know I will enjoy it more. Does this mean I am "addicted" to activity A?

In my mind,
Something is a habit when:
1) You do it routinely because you enjoy doing it
2) You do it routinely because you feel the need to do it, whether you enjoy it or not, but it has no negative impact on the other workings of your life

Something is an addiction when:
1) You do it routinely because you enjoy it, but it has a negative impact on the other workings of your life
2) You do it routinely because you feel the need to, whether you enjoy it or not, but it has a negative impact on the other workings of you life

Under these definitions, habit IS addiction, though addiction adds that the activity is having a negative impact on your life.

Getting back to the original point, when you say "something's off when one chases his cravings consciously on a frequent basis", the above definition is why I disagreed with you. Habits are not bad things. The fact that the poster explains that he buys cheaper weed when money is tighter points to a responsible smoker who has his priorities straight. I don't believe addiction comes in to it at all.