Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY
Volume 26, Issue 1, Pages 107-111Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.07.018
Keywords
Ethics; Vested interests; Neo-liberal economics; Alcohol; Tobacco; Gambling
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Addictive consumptions generate financial surpluses over-and-above non-addictive consumptions because of the excessive consumption of addicted consumers. This add-on margin or 'addiction surplus' provides a powerful incentive for beneficiaries to protect their income by ensuring addicted consumers keep consuming. Not only that, addiction surplus provides the financial base that enables producers to sponsor activities which aim to prevent public health initiatives from reducing consumption. This paper examines the potency of addiction surplus to engage industry, governments and communities in an ongoing reliance on addiction surplus. It then explores how neo-liberal constructions of a rational consumer disguise the ethical and exploitative dynamics of addiction surplus by examining ways in which addictive consumptions fail to conform to notions of autonomy and rationality. Four measures are identified to contain the distorting effects of addiction surplus. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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