As famously put by Dobzhansky (1973) in the title of his popular paper, “[n]othing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. In this section, we propose that, applied to addiction, the evolutionary outlook may not only shed light on its foundations and allow deeper insight into driving forces behind phenomena leading and attendant to drug abuse, but also puts them in a wider biopsychological perspective under the rubric of Darwinian, evolutionary medicine. Indeed, an evolutionary account of liability to addiction is necessary, because, on its surface, drug abuse/addiction presents an evolutionary paradox of voluntary self-inflicted fitness decay. As with other self-destructive or anti-reproductive behaviors (e.g., suicide, voluntary celibacy, homosexuality), plausible Darwinian explanations for this paradox need to be given for drug abuse and liability to addiction.
