Drug User Counseling, Remuneration and Ethics

Abstract

In this article we explore the implications that remuneration,in its various forms, might have for drug-user counselors. A longphilosophical tradition has it that financial reward and altruism aremutually exclusive. Our view is somewhat different. We argue, contrathat tradition, that although financial reward in the guise of eithercommercial profit or wages is not in and of itself morally pernicious,it does confront counselors with ethical hazards. These are hazardsagainst which those involved in drug-user counseling need to beespecially vigilant.