They steal or abuse their loved ones to feed an addiction.

For seven years Sharon Thomas fed an addiction and a machine.

Many of these individuals may have committed petty crimes, such as shoplifting or drug possession, to feed an addiction.

Where mitigating circumstances are taken into account, they can include stealing to feed an addiction, or being “motivated by desperation or need”.

An American pastor has lost his job and is being investigated on suspicion of stealing money from his church to feed an addiction to gambling.

Mam Hassan, 64, said he blames his son, Omer, for isolating himself from his family to feed an addiction to technology and Facebook.

Detective Sgt. John Giambrone of Nassau County, N.Y., told CNN most male bank robbers commit such crimes for the thrill or to feed an addiction.

And too often, foster children come from struggling, troubled families where a relative might see a child's Social Security number as a way to keep the lights on, put food on the table or feed an addiction.

As if users of Research In Motion's BlackBerry two-way pager don't already check their devices for new e-mail with compulsive regularity, R.I.M. has given them another reason to feed an addiction: wireless scheduling.

Government of Canada; Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Are You Tobacco Wise? The purpose of Tobacco Wise is to sensitize Aboriginal communities so that they use tobacco in a sacred and traditional way and not to feed an addiction.

Professor Lewis misspent his youth tripping on acid and acquiring the taste for heroin with a ménage à trois called "the Heap" in late-Sixties San Francisco; haunting the opium dens of Calcutta; and burgling homes and hospitals in Toronto to feed an addiction to pharmaceutical-grade opiates.

A single game, he said, has limited appeal to someone who has to feed a need for constant action.

With a little growl, he bent to nurse at them, feeding a need that went beyond hunger, beyond lust.

Sociopaths: feeding a need for stimulation.

He started this with what he thought were good intentions, but it quickly fed a need for recognition and praise deep inside of him, a dark desire he can no longer turn off but no longer feed, either.

As oil revenues fed a need for workers and artisans, millions of Yemenis went to work in Saudi Arabia and other wealthy countries, sending billions of dollars home before the oil recession of the early 1980's.

But once you realize this, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the artist's interest in this tribe has less to do with the preservation of local traditions, or even cultural expression by the people, than feeding a need for a nostalgic sense of otherness.