Yeah, just about everyone is addicted to caffeine, but no one bats an eye. It's only the drugs that were made illegal that people usually have issues with people being addicted to. All addiction is bad and we should try to have better resources and understanding to help anyone with any addiction.
Ehhh as an addict, I can say that there are some pretty big material differences between quitting smoking, sugar, alcohol, etc. Legality and how the substance is socialised are for sure huge factors in its perception, and how addiction is internalised, but yeah... there are real physical differences.
Not that you were necessarily making that point, but close enough, and I've seen it made before. No offense.
Food consists of more than just processed foods full of refined sugars. We can survive on foods that don't trigger addiction pathways - should we want to. On the other hand excess sugar intake is related to massive social and public health costs - including diabetes, mental illness, and early mortality - so it is reasonable to put it in its own category.
Although which activities we get addicted to isn't really my concern here. It's the ignorance and double standards that worry me most.
A person with a crippling addiction to sugar is going to look like a morbidly obese person. A person with a crippling addiction to heroin is going to look like that homeless person you're picturing. But the obese person can have sugar delivered to their door on a daily basis, and the drug addict has to do some sketch shit to maintain their addiction.
Most people are far further down the scale than either of those two obvious examples, and may be indistinguishable from someone who isn't actively addicted to something. Though, the 40% obesity rate night have something to do with that.