Of the 11 million people in the United Kingdom (27 percent of the population ages 16-74) who have ever used illicit drugs at some point in their lives, only 1 percent becomes drug dependent. The dominant view is that this small percentage of drug users who slide from recreational to problematic drug use have distinctive neurological conditions associated with a loss of behavioral control. Current thinking is that this condition of involuntary dependence on drug effects can only be reversed through medical intervention; however, the evidence for this approach to stopping drug use is not absolute. Another view of drug desistance is based on research findings that suggest drug use is a continual choice between drug use and other alternative behaviors and lifestyles. Drugs are chosen as a means of achieving an immediate desirable mental state that other behaviors and lifestyles are perceived by the drug user as unable to provide, at least in the short term and without significant effort, knowledge acquisition, and some good fortune. This article considers how this theory of drug desistance is consistent with current criminological approaches that regard treatment for drug use as part of a holistic strategy designed to increase the positive experiences of behaviors and goal-seeking that do not involve drugs. 3 tables, 4 figures, 4 notes, and 59 references