Key concepts in drugs and society

'This is a great resource that reflects the huge expertise of the authors. It will be welcomed by students, researchers and indeed anyone wanting critical but comprehensive coverage of key issues and trends concerning drugs and society - locally and globally, historically and today.' - Nigel South, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex 'Provides informative, balanced and contextualized insights into the relationships between people and drugs. Whatever your background and however knowledgeable you feel you are about contemporary drug issues, I guarantee that you will learn something unexpected and new from this valuable text.' - Joanne Neale, Professor of Public Health, Oxford Brookes University Why do people take drugs? How do we understand moral panics? What is the relationship between drugs and violence? How do people's social positions influence their involvement in drug use? Insightful and illuminating, this book discusses drugs in social contexts. The authors bring together their different theoretical and practical backgrounds, offering a comprehensive and interdisciplinary introduction that opens up a wide scientific understanding moving beyond cultural myths and presuppositions. This is an invaluable reference source for students on criminology, sociology and social sciences programmes, as well as drug service practitioners such as drug workers, social workers and specialist nurses.

PART ONE: TYPES OF DRUGS AND PATTERNS OF USE What Is a Drug/Medicine? Prevalence and Trends in Illicit Drug Use Why Do People Take Drugs? Addiction Legal Drugs: Alcohol and Tobacco Polydrug Use/Polysubstance Use Common Illicit Drugs Typologies of Drug Use: Use-Misuse-Abuse and Problematic-Recreational Use Binge-Drinking Raves and Circuit Parties Dance Drugs/Club Drugs Cross-cultural and Traditional Drug Use Gender, Ethnicity and Social Class Normalisation PART TWO: DRUG EFFECTS Drug Effects: Drug, Set and Setting Medical Marijuana and Other Therapeutic Uses of Illicit Drugs Prescribed and Over-the-Counter (OTC) Drugs Novel Psychoactive Substances The Gateway Hypothesis/Stepping Stone Theory Drug-related Violence Drugs and Crime Drug Risks and Health Harms Injecting Drug Use HIV/AIDS and Other Blood-borne Viruses PART THREE: DRUG POLICY, TREATMENT AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE DRUG PROBLEM Drug Treatment and Quasi-compulsory Treatment (QCT) Harm Reduction Substitute Prescribing The New Recovery Approach Prevention: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary International Drug Control History/Prohibition Drugs in Sport Drug Scares and Moral Panics Drug Dealers Drug Markets: Difference and Diversity Drug Trafficking Crop Eradication, Crop Substitution and Legal Cultivation War on Drugs Drug Testing in Schools and Workplaces Drug Courts Decriminalisation, Legalisation and Legal Regulation Liberalisation