ABSTRACT
In the late '80s, the Royal College of Psychiatrists published a comprehensive report on drugs and drug dependence. The authors commented “Society's relationship with drugs is a matter of ebb and flow, of shifting co-existence. New drugs arrive and old drugs go out of fashion”. Within a short time illicit use of drugs in the United Kingdom has increased and patterns of use have diversified. Data for 1995 from the Home Office Addicts Index, showed that the number of notified addicts in the UK had risen to 37,200, an increase of 9% compared with a year earlier. The treatment of drug misusers can not only benefit patients, but also the wider community. Drug misuse creates ‘knock-on’ costs in social and criminal problems, and treatment including social care and support can reduce this harm. For this reason, budgets for drug misuse should be given greater priority.
