ABSTRACT
The misuse of licit and illicit drugs continues to cause suffering and loss worldwide on a vast scale. In response to these problems, many people devote their working lives to an attempt to prevent or ameliorate misuse of licit and illicit mind-acting substances and the consequences. The spectrum of professionals involved in that response is wide, and includes treatment personnel of every kind, research workers from many different disciplines, the voluntary sector, administrators, and the staff of relevant government, and international agencies. The judicial and enforcement sector also makes significant contributions, but it is not within the scope of this particular book. The extent, causes, and complexities of the problems caused by misuse are much commented on. But in sharp contrast to the nature, dimensions, and dynamics of the relevant response system, who works where and why within it, their motivation and training, what makes one effective in his or her career, what rewards people who enter this field and what is special about it—those questions are for the most part ignored. At worst it seems as if people who choose a professional career in the addictions are more likely to be used than valued. The optimum use of the relevant human resources seem often to have been left more to luck than been subject to intelligent planning, or based on a full understanding of the facts. One side of the interactive system of “problems” and “responses” seems to be off the map.
