Abstract
Often we refer to the response to an unwanted addictive behavior, but of course there is no unified social or legal response. Instead, addictive or compulsive behaviors occasion a variety of social and legal responses: restrictive or prohibitive legislation, individual litigation, the emergence of advocacy groups, and the issue of expert opinion. Yet even if these responses do not originate from a single plan, they converge in a particular way. When a new "epidemic" of addictive behavior is identified, a narrative about that addiction emerges. Who are I the addicts? What danger do they pose? Who bears responsibility for the problem? Even if these responses address the problem of addiction in very different ways, together they imagine the addict in ways that reinforce broader sympathetic or exclusionary attitudes towards the addicts themselves.
Recommended Citation
Joh, Elizabeth E.
(2009)
"Imagining the Addict: Evaluating Social and Legal Responses to Addiction,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 2009:
No.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2009/iss1/7