ABSTRACT
The 1960s were a time of great social upheaval and change-particularly amongst the newly-emergent youth culture and their relationship with the establishment. Their iconoclasm found expression in various ways including, for some groups, the use of illicit drugs. In some ways this drug use can be seen as paralleling the search for new identities, new ways of living, and the search for chemical shortcuts to higher planes of enjoyment and self-discovery. But it was not just the significance of the drug use which was changing-major changes occurred in the substances being used, in the manner in which they were being used, and in the characteristics of the drug takers themselves. For several decades up to the 1950s, the UK drug problem had been notable by its absence (see Chapters 2 and 3, Volume I), and a similar picture was seen across Europe-in contrast to the situation in the USA. No significant drug problem existed to test the adequacy or appropriateness of UK drug policy, and no significant clinical demand existed to test the adequacy and appropriateness of the treatment response. Perhaps the most clear demonstration of these changes is evident by looking at the ages of addicts in the UK. As Spear has described (1969; see also Chapter 3, Volume I), the number of opiate addicts in the UK had been fairly constant between 400 and 600 during any year, of whom half were deemed to be therapeutic addicts who had become addicted to the drug during the course of treatment for pain associated with a physical disorder. A substantial number of the remainder were physicians or other professionals who had unusual access to pharmaceutical supplies of the drug. Of this number there were less than a hundred who were addicted to heroin, and these addicts were nearly all middle-aged or older. Indeed the first known case of a heroin addict under the age of 20 years was not until 1960. Yet by 1967 there were 381 known cases of heroin addiction who were aged less than 20 years, and 827 aged between 20 and 34 years, and the annual numbers of heroin addicts had increased from about 50 to a 1967 figure of 1,299.
