Abstract
When addiction gets out of control, addicts lose accountability; stigmatization and exclusion from conventional roles often ensue. Many family members are trapped in uneven, dysfunctional relationships.
We reinterpret such effects of addiction based on Kabele's justice theory of coordination (2007) as a process in which private making of justice is disabled and the mechanism of construction of reality breaks down. Drug policies fail to eliminate addiction as such.
Prohibitionist policies worsen the breakdown of reality construction, while medical and social rehabilitative policies have limited resources to remedy it. Thus, we hypothesize that in order to minimize unintended effects of addiction, policies best intervene indirectly: focus on addict accountability and inclusion in conventional roles; and foster conditions for private coping with addiction.
We recommend a strategy that embraces controlled drug use or, more generally, the art of controlling one's addictions.