At times ,the book reads like an Erin Brokovich saga. For instance, Schaler refers to a project undertaken in the U.S.A. in 1995,entitled Match (Matching Alcoholism Treatment to Client Heterogeneity)using some $35 million of tax money. The results which emerged were not in keeping with expectations. As a result, great efforts were made to conceal the results and to discredit anyone who published them.

Schaler expands our view of addiction by stripping down all the superstructure the establishment view of addiction has built up over the decades, drawing a simple distinction between virtues as good addictions and vices as bad addictions. He says that a "positive addiction enhances the values we hold dear ", while a negative addiction "pulls our life apart ".

"Positive addictions," he argues, "may include alcohol, work, and love. Negative addictions may also include alcohol, work, and love "(p.5).In other words people can be addicted to almost anything that they choose. When the effect of this addiction is constructive it is construed as a virtue and, by contrast, when its effect is negative, then it is thought of as a vice. "Addictions are as diverse as peoples ' values."

Schaler emphasises that not all drug users become addicted. Contrary to popular anti- drug propaganda,"if you deny the fact that people can use drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco responsibly you 'll never comprehend the true meaning of addiction and you'll never be able to help people with the problems-in-living that lead to drug use " (p.129).

Schaler is predictably and stridently critical of the disease model of addiction. He maintains that when we talk about addiction as a disease, rather than a choice, then the individual no longer feels in control. "People use legal and illegal drugs like Prozac and heroin to avoid coping with their lives. The reasons people avoid coping with their lives may be judged good or bad …Addiction is not a disease...Addiction is a choice," he argues (p.120).

More importantly for the therapist population, though, this book forces practitioners to look more closely at why rehabilitation treatment is so notoriously unsuccessful, and why clients being treated for addiction are frequently resistant to change. Schaler looks closely at the idea that treatment for addiction can be found through turning one 's life over to a "higher power "as advocated by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).For AA members, the locus of control must of necessity be external to the individual.

Schaler argues that if clients were encouraged to take more personal responsibility for their behaviour, and to moderate their intake, then they would feel more empowered and more able to control their use of whatever substance they are struggling with.

Schaler advocates the use of moderation as opposed to complete abstention. He says that when one encourages clients to believe that they are powerless and that complete abstention is necessary, one risks paving the way to maintaining the addiction. He argues that treatment programs for addiction which encourage people to believe that they are not able to moderate their intake of drugs tend to become a self fulfilling prophecy.