The idea for an issue of the International Journal of Mental Health dedicated to the French Addiction Management System was born in New York in December 2010 during an interview with Professor Martin Gittelman. He asked me to get in touch with authors working in addiction management in France who might be interested in this project. After a discussion with my colleague, psychiatrist Dr. Françoise Albertini, who is head of the Addiction and Related Disorders Department of the Public Mental Health Hospital (Pôle Addiction et Pathologies Associées de l’Etablissement Public de Santé Mentale), Edouard Toulouse Hospital in Marseilles, and of the Addiction Management Public Health Structures Association (Association des Structures Publiques de Soins en Addictologie, ASPSA), I decided to take up the challenge.