Some say it’s worse than coming off heroin, other’s that it’s nearly ‘all in the mind’ – an example of the myths and confusion surrounding withdrawal from benzodiazepine tranquillisers, the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. One of Britain’s…
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Druglink article 1987 – Drug wars by President Reagan and Alexander Vlasov
Last October, President Reagan signed the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, describing it as a ‘major victory in our crusade against drugs.’ For Reagan the aim was to achieve ‘nothing less than a drug-free generation’ a contrast to the more modest…
Druglink article 1987 – Minimisation of harm, a u-curve theory by Nicholas Dorn
U curves have a long and questionable history in addiction studies. They were traditionally used to illustrate the decline and reform of alcoholics and drug addicts. Nicholas Dorn steals the U-curve and applies it in an entirely new way, reaching…
Druglink article 1987 – Assessing prevalence by Joy Mott
How much of it is there and what it is like? ‘Simple’ questions about drug misuse/problems with no simple answers. Joy Mott maps out the options for finding answers and discusses the pros and cons Assessing prevalence (PDF)
Druglink article 1987 – A framework for understanding drug use by Andy Malinowski
Disease models have been replaced by more realistic but more complex models. This three triangle framework is one practical way to organise the confusion. A framework for understanding drug use (PDF)
Druglink article 1987 – Addicts can change by Richard Hartnoll, Emmanuelle Daviaud and Robert Power
Will people prepared to inject illegal drugs with secondhand needles be able to change now to reduce the risk of spreading AIDS to each other, and to the general popultion? Research in London (drug indicators Project) suggests there’s at least…
Druglink article 1987 – A cocaine explosion by Colin Hewitt
In January cocaine worth £6 million was seized in Essex and politicians renewed warnings that surplus South American cocaine was set to cause a ‘cocaine explosion’ in Britain. But the UK’s top police drugs investigator believes our defences can withstand…
Druglink article 1987 – Responses to heroin misuse, working togther, by Geoffrey Pearson, Mark Gilman and Shirley McIver
In the spring and summer of 1985 a research team travelled the breadth of northern England and made detailed neighbourhood studies, building a picture of heroin misuse and responses to it in the North. Their report – on which this…
Druglink article 1987 – High time for harm reduction by Russell Newcombe
For many youngsters, the ‘just say no’ campaign has come too late or failed: in some urban areas, heroin and other illicit drugs have become a ‘normal’ part of teenage experience. In areas like these, Russell Newcombe argues, it’s ‘high…
Druglink article 1987 – Time to build bridges by Brian Wells
NA and the Minnesota Method in Britain. AAs ‘Twelve steps’ form the basis of an increasingly influential rehabilitation movement in Britain, ranging from the self-help groups of Narcotics Anonymous to £1000 a week clinics in Hampstead. The elements of ‘private’…