A Theoretical Model for a Socially Oriented Drug Treatment Policy

Abstract

Current treatment policy is rooted primarily in either medical or psychological paradigms. These paradigms fail to recognize the social nature of drug addiction. Lacking in the literature is a sufficient theoretical or conceptual framework for a socially based treatment orientation. The present article provides a sociologically grounded framework, positing three analytically distinct social processes: 1) dissociation from the addict lifestyle and subculture, which involves the mechanisms of sacrifice, renunciation and investment; 2) association with the treatment program and its goals, which involves mechanisms of communion, mortification and transcendence; and 3) a reintegration process whereby the addict is mainstreamed into conventional society.