title: Heroin addiction, ethics and philosophy of medicine.
abstract: This article discusses various ethical and philosophical aspects of heroin addiction. It arose as a result of the plan by the Amsterdam city council to supply free heroin to drug addicts. The objective of treatment of heroin addicts is ambivalent because what is in fact a socio-cultural problem is transformed into a medical problem. The characteristics of this treatment are made explicit through a philosophical analysis which sees the medical intervention as part of a strategy aimed at achieving social normalisation. The reason why such a social control function is practised by physicians is discussed, as well as the reason why heroin users in particular are the object of such a process. In this paper, heroin addiction is considered primarily as a cultural problem. The consequences of this for treatment and ethics form the conclusion.
mesh_terms: D032763:Behavior Control; D003415:Crime; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D033161:Government Regulation; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D009426:Netherlands; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D010819:Physician's Role; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D012945:Social Values; D012961:Sociology