Understanding the relationship between addiction and poverty in combating disadvantage in society

The academic literature on addiction and substance misuse highlights that it may be a consequence of poverty and that, conversely poverty can be a consequence of addiction and substance misuse. Our knowledge of the neurobiological substrates of reinforcement indicates that they are responsive to socially mediated reward and not just to drug administration. Consequently, their existence does not negate a role for interventions to address the socially mediated rewards for substance use behaviours, maintaining abstinence from substance use, and the meanings which come to be attached to both use and abstinence. Such interventions may also be regarded as addressing the ‘environment’ component of any formulation of a genetic X environment interaction, and may be seen in the larger context of combating poverty and disadvantage in society.