Introduction

Although intoxication, addiction, and drug regulation have been the object of intense scrutiny for many years, no study has yet focused on prohibitions as ambivalent and tenuous interactions between the users of psychoactive substances and those parties acting as regulators of their use—governments, law enforcement agencies, and medical practitioners. The term “prohibition” captures something important in the language around drug politics that “regulation,” which implies balance and harmony, does not quite suggest. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “prohibition” as “The action or act of forbidding; an edict, decree, or order which forbids, prevents, or excludes; the forbidding or condemnation of something; an embargo or restriction against something.” The passing of the controversial UK Psychoactive Substances Act in 2016 created a new legislative framework for prohibitions in the United Kingdom. The legal apparatus prohibiting intoxicants has not been nearly as hermetic or aggressive as is often assumed in standard accounts, on either side of the debate.