Abstract
There continues to be a debate on whether addiction is best understood as a brain disease or a moral condition. This debate, which may influence both the stigma attached
to addiction and access to treatment, is often motivated by the question of whether and to what extent we can justly hold addicted individuals responsible for their
actions. In fact, there is substantial evidence for a disease model, but the disease model per se does not resolve the question of voluntary control. Recent research at the
intersection of neuroscience and psychology suggests that addicted individuals have substantial impairments in cognitive control of behavior, but this “loss of control”
is not complete or simple. Possible mechanisms and implications are briefly reviewed.