“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it” – Joseph Joubert, French Essayist and Moralist (1754 – 1824)
Addiction Debates aims to bring individuals together to debate current ideas and future directions in the fields of substance use, treatment, research, and policy.
The spreading problem of addiction to drugs and countless other habits and pursuits in our societies represents the most serious threat to global health in the 21st century. Helping individuals who are currently suffering with addiction problems and protecting future generations against similar problems will require a broad analysis of the historical, social, and political contexts in which these problems emerge, and a continually evolving understanding of the array of corrective measures at our disposal.
Addiction Debates aims to provide a forum for drug users, treatment providers, academics, politicians, law enforcement and criminal justice officials, employers, economists, social workers, youth workers, doctors, nurses, teachers, charity workers, clergy, and community leaders to share their views and knowledge openly and without censorship, to cross-examine one another and build working relationships, and ultimately, to propose workable solutions for one another.
Debates on the nature and course of addiction have long divided the medical, social science, spiritual, legal, and philosophical communities, and will continue to do so as new lines of thinking emerge. Translating our differences of opinion into workable solutions is the pragmatic goal to which we aspire. Addiction Debates celebrates a difference of opinion because it is our tendency to be passionately moved to reject another’s argument that reaffirms our committment to effecting positive changes within and out-with our professions.
