ABSTRACT
North Philadelphia is one of the hot-spot scenarios of drug dealers, users, and sellers. One out of three patients upon admission has, or has had, problems with substances such as alcohol, cocaine, or heroin. The patient must undergo both treatments because they are considered to have "dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorders". This chapter discusses a psychoanalytic approach to addiction which is much different than this traditional mental health one. In discussing about the specificity of addiction, the French psychiatrist Henri Ey, a very close colleague of Lacan's, includes both drug addicts ("toxicómanos"; Fr. "toxicomanes") and sexual perverts under the classification of "psychopaths". Addiction and psychopathy also share a relation to the drive; Ey says that "the behavior of the toxicómano constitutes a perversion that completely satisfies his need". He associates it with certain behaviours that are "such perversions" since they both share "the regression to a partial pleasure".
