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Evidence-based Drug Crime Policy: Moving Beyond the Moral/Medical Dichotomy to a Multi-level Model of Addiction

Stephen Koppel JD

The moral and medical models, the dominant paradigms of drug addiction, disagree on the question of responsibility. The moral model views drug addiction as an autonomous person’s choice. The medical model views it as the behavior of a ‘hijacked’ brain. Amid efforts to decarcerate American prisons, the relative merits of these two models are being weighed. Which raises the question of whether policy-makers must be resigned to choosing one side of the moral/ medical dichotomy. In this commentary, the moral and medical models will be critically evaluated, and an alternative 3rd way, a multi-level model, suggested.