Sherlock Holmes

I've noticed something with a number of Sherlock Holmes stories over the past few years, including Sherlock types such as House. The idea is that Sherlock is an addict. If you actually read the stories though, you see it's quite different. He uses drugs, that much is true, and some of them are things like opium, heroine, and cocaine. However, it's less of an addiction to drugs as it's something he needs to occupy his mind when he doesn't have any cases. His mind is always on, always going, and he can't turn it off. He often doesn't even sleep for days, sometimes weeks, when he's on a case. If he's an addict, it's to having his mind occupied.

I just dislike that everyone seems to misunderstand the nature of the thing.