Journal Article — Durkheim, Mead, and Heroin Addiction — by Nancy O’Keefe Dyer

Much has been written and much research done in an effort to understand the phenomenon of drug addiction. The treatment modalities available—medical, behavioral, pharmaceutical, “Twelve-Step”—speak to the many theories that have arisen as a result of research done to date. Yet statistics on heroin use and abuse indicate remarkably low “cure” rates and an ever-increasing number of addicts and “casual” users. Perhaps the field has been waiting for my investigation of the ways in which Emile Durkheim and George Herbert Mead would view the phenomenon of addiction.