A dominant theme in addiction studies is how addicted individuals become stigmatised, excluded and marginalised as a result of their drug addiction - and the often dysfunctional and anti-social behaviour that follows. Max Dennehy and Thaddeus Müller report (in: Stigma and drug use: Research perspectives from Europe),"often, the experiences of exclusion and stigmatisation start well before the ´addicts´ have ever picked up a drug. Our research conveys the reality that many of our most excluded, marginalised, and stigmatised people who use drugs have a chronic history of stigmatisation and exclusion that dates back to early childhood. Often, addiction is a symptom of exclusion, not the cause."