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What Is Addiction Neuroethics?

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Handbook of Neuroethics
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Abstract

Drug use and addiction are significant problems facing most societies. Neuroscience promises to reduce the incidence and harms of drug use through the development of more effective treatments targeted at changes in the brain produced by chronic drug use and by identifying persons most likely to develop harmful drug use and preventing them from becoming addicted. By locating the source of addictive behavior in the brain, neuroscience may be seen to account for some addicted individuals’ criminal behavior and justify the use of coercive interventions to treat their addiction. Neuropharmacological interventions used to treat drug addiction may also be co-opted by healthy individuals to enhance their normal cognition. In this chapter we introduce the reader to Addiction Neuroethics, the ethical issues raised by proposed and potential applications of neuroscience research on addiction.

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Correspondence to Adrian Carter .

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Carter, A., Hall, W.D. (2015). What Is Addiction Neuroethics?. In: Clausen, J., Levy, N. (eds) Handbook of Neuroethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4707-4_67

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4707-4_67

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

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