From treatment to rehabilitation — aspects of the evolution of British policy on the care of drug-takers

Abstract

Drug use is a common social activity, the motivations, methods and consequences of which are shaped by a variety of historical, cultural and political forces. Similarly, official responses to drug taking are influenced by those same forces, whether or not they are socially visible. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to analyse in detail how these social forces have operated over time or their level of impact on the development of treatment and rehabilitation policies. We simply describe current treatment and rehabilitation policies and ask if they represent a rational response appropriate to the realities of the 1980s and to the new wave of concern with heroin misuse in Britain.