The British author and psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple in his book Drugs. The myths and lies (2006) that it is nonsense to think that addiction is a disease. Addiction is for him a matter of bad morals.

Dalrymple puts it himself in the English tradition of thinking ameliorisme, whose core principle is that the solution to a social problem begins with reforming the individual. Other words, blaming the victim. Dalrymple is also an absurd abuse of ineffective bureaucracy, which would benefit the addict addicted remains – that keeps the industry alive.

This kind of allegations the Dutch addiction is not fun, and shortly after Dalrymple’s book promotion tour followed by Netherlands in November 2006 in NRC Handelsblad a reply by the mouth of Cor de Jong, professor of addiction at the University Radbout. Dalrymple was a charlatan preaching his pub talk. According to De Jong Dalrymple’s argument is based on outdated and non-scientific knowledge. De Jong is right that the underpinning of Dalrymple’s assertions scientific, moral and logical part or mostly groundless. He adds that today stand in the Dutch addiction “-evidence-based medicine” is practiced. What it is and what its impact is, he fails to mention. Perhaps not surprising, because the effect of treatment in the Dutch addiction to say the least unclear.