ABSTRACT
In the twenty-first century, there is no lack of interest in the use of psychoactive substances and plants. Alcohol and drug use remain the social and psychological fabric of our society and are now regarded as a public health problem. Society has learned to co-exist with drugs and alcohol, and its views of which drugs should be legal or illicit change with time and economic and political considerations. For example, tea, coffee and tobacco have all been illegal in Britain at various points in history (Whitaker 1987), but with time, increasing availability and more widespread use opinions change, and the drug becomes ‘normalized’. Alcohol and drug use cause a host of physical, social, psychological and economic harms not only to the individual but to the family and the community. The harms include higher risks of premature death; risk of acquiring bloodborne virus such as hepatitis B and C and HIV; overdose; respiratory failure; and mental health problems. It is stated that drug problems will not be beaten out of society by yet harsher laws, lectured out of society by yet more hours of ‘health education’, or treated out of society by yet more drug experts (Royal College of Psychiatrists 1987).
