ABSTRACT

This chapter considers recent developments in legal and illicit drug use, paying particular regard to the last 20 years in the UK. With an escalation and diversification in the consumption of legal and illicit drugs by contemporary youth and young adults, there has been a renewed focus of attention by academics, policy makers and practitioners in this area. Much of the research has, of necessity, involved charting overall trends in usage, alongside the medical, legal and policy implications of this consumption. For example, in the UK there are a substantial number of studies charting changes in illicit drug use, including longitudinal studies of young people (eg Aldridge et al 1999), annual national schools surveys of pupils (eg Balding 2001), and annual national household surveys of adults (eg Ramsay et al 2001). It is timely now to move beyond such ‘mapping’ exercises to reflect on the broader conceptual issues regarding these changing patterns of consumption.