This study seemed to link a specific genetic anomaly with a deficiency in the number of a particular brain-located dopamine receptor. Pain itself is compelling, and sufficient pain makes considerations of free will or morality irrelevant. The medical model of addiction has some very interesting implications. In particular, it means that fears of an ever-increasing number of addicts appearing subsequent to the institution of a policy of drug decriminalization are probably baseless. The medical model is the dominant drug-policy paradigm in Canada and in most of Western Europe, and is gaining currency worldwide.
Theories are, of course, all well and good, but the important thing is how they work in practice.
The Dutch and Scandinavians, in contrast, are much more tolerant of drug experimentation and use, even to the point of making highly-addictive drugs directly available on demand, with the drug abuser having no reason to avoid treatment because of fear of criminal sanctions. Once again the real world supports the medical model. Rates of AIDS and criminal activity associated with drug use are at opposite extremes for the U.S. as opposed to the Dutch and Scandinavians, with the U.S. having the highest and the Dutch and Scandinavians the lowest in the Western world. In Holland where marijuana use is decriminalized and marijuana can be openly purchased in hundreds of shops, the lifetime prevalence of marijuana is lower than in the United States where hundreds of thousands of people are arrested each year for marijuana possession. In Holland where marijuana use is decriminalized and marijuana can be openly purchased in hundreds of shops, the lifetime prevalence of marijuana is lower than in the United States where hundreds of thousands of people are arrested each year for marijuana possession.