Purva Tekkar*
Addiction is an engagement in repetitive behaviors involving the consumption of a drug that has no survival value and endangers the user unintentionally. With a shift in the lens through which the problem of substance abuse and addiction is viewed, so has the perspective used to examine it. The way the consumer is perceived socially and politically also shaped their treatment options. The current analysis looks at ideas that have changed how we think about substance abuse and addiction over time and how that development may be applied to India to make policy changes more compassionate.