In response to accidentally stumbling over a long and detailed article on a subject of interest, what is a person to do? Well, read it of course — which is the reason for perusing a piece called “Aging Out of Drug Addiction is the Norm.”

The essay in question was written by Professor of Economics (and The New York Times bestselling author) Bryan Caplan, and the source of his information was a book by Gene Heyman, titled Addiction: A Disorder of Choice. The item of particular relevance is a chapter called, “Once an Addict, Always an Addict?” and here will be briefly covered some of the points made, for the benefit of any reader who cares to follow up in either Caplan’s or Heyman’s body of work.

For starters, Caplan mentions the often-referenced Vietnam veterans heroin study, of which he says, “If you start reading the piece, I predict you will finish, because it is elegantly written.” But that was before discovering “much more systematic evidence” in Heyman’s book. This consists of information about four important national studies of relapse and remission rates which, though well-regarded, have not been quoted as often as they perhaps deserve be. So, the bringing to light of that information alone is beneficial.

We learn that, in the scientific sense, dependence “requires at least three symptoms over a twelve-month period.” And — shockingly — in the first-mentioned study, most of the quitters were not even involved with drug treatment clinics.

The next research covered by Heyman was the National Comorbidity Study (NCS), so titled because it focused on the relation between two different entities; for instance, depression and addiction; and covered more than 15,000 case histories. Interestingly, the two major NCS studies came up with two rather different remission percentages — but then, the probable procedural reason for that discrepancy is explained.

The result of all this examination was the very strong suspicion that addiction is not chronic, and is in fact self-limiting. Of course, for those who die of overdose or other drug-related causes, it is indeed very self-limiting. But of the heavy users who survive long enough, most of them do “age out” of addiction — and apparently, treatment has very little to do with it.

To reach the point of quitting forever, some relapses may be involved, but “by about age 30 most have quit for good.” Whether the person’s lifestyle is classified as dependence only, or abuse and dependence, by the time they get to age 50, the result is the same.

Now, here comes an important question pondered by both Caplan and Heyman: “Why do even many experts hold unrealistically negative stereotypes about drug users?” and the answer is (with the exclamation mark included), “Selection bias!”

Because? All the the statistics that scholars write papers about are based on individuals who complete treatment programs at clinics, while in the real world, the great majority of addicts never seek treatment:

Given that the clinic studies support the claim that addiction is a chronic disorder, this means that addicts who end up in treatment keep using drugs, treatment notwithstanding, and those not in treatment quit using drugs. This interpretation fits all the data presented so far…

But let’s not spoil it. Anyone who is intrigued will need to consult one of the two authors mentioned here. Still it is impossible to resist quoting Caplan’s take on the medicalizing of bad decisions, along with his essential questioning of why every person must be deprived of freedom to use substances, just to slightly help a very small minority of self-destructive individuals.

Would he be horrified if his children experimented with hard drugs? Of course. But…

I’d also be horrified if my kids tried climbing mountains, racing cars, worshipping Satan, visiting Haiti, or even getting visible tattoos. Yet my horror does not show that these decisions are literal “diseases,” nor does it justify depriving my children of their freedom when they reach adulthood.

And how should a civilized society react? The author’s suggestion is contained in his final paragraph.

Written by Pat Hartman. First published September 18, 2025.

Sources:

“What the Infamous Heroin Study Said,” Betonit.ai, April 8, 2025.

“Aging Out” of Drug Addiction is the Norm,” betonit.ai, September 16, 2025.

Image Copyright: rebcenter-moscow/Pixabay.