This chapter considers a number of alternative explanations for why behavioral economic theories of addiction (BETA) have produced relatively few policy insights. It concludes that the limited policy implications stem from several features shared by BETA—the overlap in the causal factors that motivate addictive and non-addictive psychoactive drug use; the overlap between the policy implications of addiction theories and more conventional theories of drug control; and the notion that addiction is a unitary phenomenon with one correct theoretical explanation. The chapter provides possible explanations for the limited usefulness of the addiction concept. Analytic use of the addiction concept may be hindered by its lack of adequate construct validity in the psychometric sense of a unitary concept that can be adequately delineated and distinguished from other concepts. Discussions about the relative merits of addiction theories often seem to accept two implicit assumptions—addiction is a single, unitary phenomenon, and a single process causes it.