“Out There”: The Ecology of Addiction in Drug Abuse Treatment Discourse

Chapter 4 demonstrates and explains endogenous accounts of an ecology of addiction in drug abuse treatment discourse. These accounts posit a space “out there” marked by its degradation, dirtiness, solitude, and savagery that commonly tempts those who must live there to also behave amorally, licentiously, and/or savagely. Speaking of an ecology of addiction poses a fundamental utility in light of specific conceptual puzzles that participants in drug abuse treatment discourse must inevitably solve. Namely, it provides participants with a compelling narrative means for reconciling the following two claims: they are chronically prone to enslavement by their addictions, and their addictions can be controlled through ongoing participation in a communal project of mutual help.