The problem is that, as a solution, it can also exacerbate social isolation, to the point where the addict who has to decide who his or her actual best friends are–the people they know, or the magic potion which deadens their pain. If they choose the latter, they die. If they choose the former, they go into what is called “recovery”, but which is really just a system of damage mitigation. It is remission, not cure. It is management.
It seems to me you can really only call an “addict”–again, someone who used a rational means to solve a real problem, even if that means is not socially acceptable, because the truth of trauma is not something we allow to be discussed publicly, properly–“cured” when they have found some intrinsic energy flow, some inner part of themselves, which creates an even more positive energy than they were able to get with their chosen pain management system.
To cure addiction, logically, then, you have to find ways of increasing positive emotions, particularly in social environments.
We have very, very poor means of doing this, compared to the past. What do you think the Native American drumming circles were? In tribal cultures the world over they have means of altering their consciousness to induce positive energies. How do we do it?
Addiction, by and large.