Drugs: Losing the War (Issues in Social Policy series)

Few social welfare problems have become so pressing in recent years as drug abuse. The spread of ecstasy-taking among the young and the arrival of crack as an international threat have all but overwhelmed the efforts of drugs workers and governments to resist them. Drugs: Losing the War looks into the closed world of young people’s drug use and advocates the provision of an integrated drugs service for young people. It tells the truth about cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and heroine, and their effects on the user. The book explodes the myths of the ‘drugs war’— those held by both the left and the right, the libertarians and the authoritarians. It argues that a new pragmatism is urgently needed which will challenge those who seek ‘quick fix’ solutions.