ABSTRACT
The use and misuse of psychoactive drugs is inextricably associated with culture and life-styles. As noted in preceding chapters, public concern periodically becomes focused on the use of alcohol and tobacco by children, adolescents and young adults. Even so, alcohol and tobacco use or misuse are seldom claimed to be the monopoly of the young. Indeed, evidence emphasizes that the middle-aged and even the elderly are as likely to misuse alcohol and to smoke tobacco as are the young. In contrast, the use of illicit drugs, such as cannabis, LSD, cocaine and the opiates, is widely perceived as being particularly a youthful form of behaviour.
