Enthusiastic young colleagues new to the addiction treatment field not infrequently ask a question something like this: 'What are the most important things I need to know about addiction and how to treat it that I can read about over the next month or two?'. This paper documents a list of 10 things about addiction that have emerged over the last three or four decades that form an overview of the most important things known about addiction that I think would be useful for new colleagues to get to grips with quickly as they embark on their career in addiction treatment. It may also be useful for established colleagues to compare with their own list in the ongoing process of freshening up clinical practice and as a prelude to considering the most fruitful areas to research that will bring about the greatest treatment improvements for addicted people. This summary is not intended to be an exhaustive catalogue of addiction treatment knowledge. It focuses upon addiction treatment in dedicated addiction treatment settings and is naturally biased towards the work of key figures in the international field who have had a significant influence on the thinking of our group at the National Addiction Centre (NAC) Aotearoa, New Zealand. If you were limited to listing the 10 most important things known about addiction, would your list be similar to what follows? . . . .
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