Illness or Deviance?

Should drug addiction be handled as a medical condition or as lawbreaking? Jennifer Murphy takes up this question by examining how society responds to people who use drugs, sending some to prison while steering others into treatment programs.

Murphy spent time observing a drug court and an outpatient treatment center, and her findings reveal inconsistencies in how addiction is labeled. Both institutions describe addiction as a disease, yet the methods they use to manage clients blend therapy with a form of punishment. Murphy also finds that being labeled an addict depends not only on drug use but on involvement in the drug trade, such as selling. She further shows that the courts and treatment providers profit from working together, which gives their partnership considerable institutional power.

Drawing on medical sociology and criminology, Murphy considers what a medicalized understanding of addiction means for public policy.