Review essay.

Bruce Alexander, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, is probably best known for his ‘Rat Park’ experiments (Alexander, Beyerstein, Hadaway, & Coambs, 1981): experiments which confirmed cleverly and imaginatively the inadequacy of research which purports to explain psychoactive drug use and dependence solely in pharmacological terms, while ignoring environmental factors. His latest book, The Globalisation of Addiction, may be seen as a synthesis of his lifelong study of this topic, reaffirming and summarizing his convictions about the limitations of biomedical models of addiction.