If you cannot sleep without sleeping pills for a protracted period of time without sleeping pills (so, obviously, anything longer than a dose for short term sleep deprivation) then you are addicted, it's as simple as that...
No it's not.
Sleeping pills aren't a cure, they don't get to the root, they are the last resort. And are generally used in the short term. However there are cases where all other treatments fail and they are necessary. I wasn't comparing conditions I was using extreme cases of where medication is needed to treat medical conditions. That people sometimes need medication whatever it may be without having to be labelled 'junkies'.
Sleeping pill addiction isn't all that common, misuse certainly is, because they create an immediate relief to a condition without being the cure. Therefore they become habit forming (as opposed to addictive).
There is nothing to say Jacko was a hopeless addict. Maybe he was, he was certainly irresponsible with drugs but that does not an addict make. Like his whole lifestyle in general he seem willing to pay for instant satisfaction or in this case relief. I mean most the evidence presented seemed to suggest this was someone using medication to treat the symptoms created by other psychological conditions as opposed to being addicted (or even dependent) to a drug or drugs. He didn't need the drugs, he needed the cure, just he had the money to dictate what he thought the cure was.