NCJ Number
124949
Date Published
1989
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The literature on patterns of drug use in Great Britain shows clearly that most people in the nation enjoy or feel that they benefit from the effects of legal, illegal, or prescribed drugs or combinations of drugs and that many harmful consequences accompany this widespread acceptance of various forms of drug use.
Abstract
Most illegal drug use is unrecorded, because Great Britain does not conduct regular national drug surveys. However, surveys of specific parts of the population and government statistics on drug law offenses and the numbers of addicts give indications of drug use and attitudes. The data show that people use and misuse drugs for many reasons. Unfortunately, drug education appears to have been largely ineffective and may even be counterproductive. Thus, it should be approached cautiously, experimentally, and on the basis of available evidence. In addition, highly visible national anti-drug campaigns are often motivated by political rather than scientific reasons and are seldom evaluated in an acceptable way. Moreover, drug control policies inevitably involve penal and legal enforcement that is difficult to implement and has disadvantages for civil liberties. Finally, research findings and policy often diverge sharply. Tables.