Hanna Pickard is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics and Krieger-Eisenhower Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing but Cocaine?

01.06.2026

• Hanna Pickard

We’re Thinking About Addiction Entirely Wrong

One of the dominant ways of thinking about addiction is as a disease. While there is evidence for this approach, it often leads to a dismissal of addiction’s social causes, rooted in alienation and purposelessness.