NCJ Number
128823
Journal
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry Volume: 13 Dated: (1990) Pages: 95-101
Date Published
1990
Length
7 pages
Annotation
When a type of experience or action is defined as being out of control, such as alcoholism, more and more people experience such loss of control to justify their transgressions against society.
Abstract
The modern "scientific" view of alcoholism as a disease has caused addictive behaviors of all kinds to grow. Treatments based on such views are expensive and, according to a published psychiatrist who ironically advocates such treatment, ineffective. Investing more and more in futile and expensive treatment programs subtracts from the resources that are available to influence people's actual environments in ways that can reduce their vulnerability to addiction. Addict criminals attribute to addiction and the chemical properties of drugs what are actually their personal problems. The public tendency to accept this explanation of addiction represents a return to pre-20th century views. Nothing about drug use or any other addiction, including over-eating or over-spending, rules out choices and individual values.