Talking Smack

Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy, by Theodore Dalrymple (Encounter, 165 pp., $21.95)

A NEW ad campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America insists that “drug addiction is a disease.” In fact, say the ads, addiction is worse than a disease, because people are not inclined to sympathize with addicts, viewing excessive drug taking as voluntary behavior rather than a condition requiring medical attention. The “Hope, Help, and Healing” campaign tries to correct that perception: In a TV spot and a series of print ads, shirtless addicts of various ages, sexes, and colors declare they’d be “better off” with a brain tumor, cancer, AIDS, or heart disease.

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Jacob Sullum

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Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy, by Theodore Dalrymple (Encounter, 165 pp., $21.95)

A NEW ad campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America insists that “drug addiction is a disease.” In fact, say the ads, addiction is worse than a disease, because people are not inclined to sympathize with addicts, viewing excessive drug taking as voluntary behavior rather than a condition requiring medical attention. The “Hope, Help, and Healing” campaign tries to correct that perception: In a TV spot and a series of print ads, shirtless addicts of various ages, sexes, and colors declare they’d be “better off” with a brain tumor, cancer, AIDS, or heart disease.