title: Addiction and disability: moral and policy issues.
abstract: This article discusses the conceptual, ethical, and policy issues raised by the legal classification of drug addiction as an impairment, and of some nonusing drug addicts as people with disabilities. It focuses on the questions of (1) what moral judgments, if any, underlie the classification of addiction as an impairment; (2) whether it makes sense to apportion the burdens of drug addiction between chemical, biological, social, political, and other causes; (3) how considerations of distributive justice may compel or constrain measures to ease the burdens of drug addiction; and (4) whether it is justifiable to deny the current users of illegal substances legal protections available to the current users of legal substances.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, Van Munching Hall University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-1821, USA. dwasserm@umd.edu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wasserman
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000145:classification / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000145:classification; D007600:Judgment; D016365:Liability, Legal; D009014:Morals; D011287:Prejudice; D011640:Public Policy; D012935:Social Justice / Q000941:ethics; D012962:Sociology, Medical / Q000941:ethics; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs