The recent Hari/Hart/Lewis hypothesis that addiction is not primarily metabolic or genetic, but rather the result of "despair" or "sociological conditions" or "flawed learning," takes a major hit in a new report appearing in The National Bureau of Economic Research. The study suggests that "changes in economic conditions account for less than one-tenth of the rise in drug and opioid-involved mortality rates." 

Jason Schwartz at Addiction & Recovery News does a deep dive into the flawed thinking behind the new (old?) sociological views of addiction here.