From wanting to willing - controlled drug use as a treatment goal

- Investigates treatment programmes aimed at controlled use of illegal drugs.
- Explores the rational actor model of drug use that these programmes are based on.
- Analyses resolution-building, framing of drug use and de-stigmatization of users.
- Discusses the challenges associated with control-focused drug treatment.

This paper uses rational choice theory to analyse a new - and controversial - treatment approach to drug problems: services aimed at making clients capable of controlled use of illegal drugs. The paper highlights three mechanisms used in control-focused treatment: attempts to move drug use from the sphere of “wanting” to the sphere of “willing”; temporal framing of illegal drug use; and a therapeutic focus on clients' resources rather than their problems. Furthermore, the paper identifies some of the main challenges associated with this kind of treatment. The paper is based on 30 qualitative interviews with young people (aged 18-25) enrolled in drug treatment in Copenhagen, Denmark.