ABSTRACT
The police in England and Wales maintain and operate a fiercely masculine culture. Symbols of male gender status and hierarchy hold the foreground and largely exclude any female or feminine nuance from everyday discourse. Drug-taking has largely been excluded from this high status area, and although a token police response to its presence as a 'folk devil' of the times has occurred, the world of abuse and addiction is commensurate with other low-status activities and other areas designated by a broadly female connotation. From 1936 to 1966, the number of women addicts remains relatively constant. Even the inclusion of the predominantly female category of'Nurses' in the 1955 figures made no significant difference to the continual decline in the 'professional' addict category. Drug-taking is often described as a 'victimless crime' and is seen as a private, self-administered activity.
