Later Extensions
Later extensions by other authors allow for uncertainty and a form of regret (you make a "rational bet" with positive expected return, but you're unlucky), cyclical consumption (interpreted as bingeing), chaotic consumption (fully deterministic but highly irregular consumption patterns strongly influenced by initial conditions), endogenous time preferences (where you know and rationally take into account how the drugs make you care less about your future), and quasi-hyperbolic discounting (the way the consumer takes the future into account makes him inconsistent over time - laying plans that he later deviates from). This latter theory is an example of an extension trying to shift the theory away from its laissez-faire and drug-liberal implications for policy. The fully rational "rational addiction models" are widely held to have the policy implication that drug users - even if they are unhappy on drugs - would be even more unhappy and worse off if they were forced off drugs. The government's policy - in this view - should be restricted to ensuring that people are well-informed and don't impose externalities on others (e.g., second-hand smoke).
Read more about this topic: Rational Addiction
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