Postscript

Abstract

There is a danger of distorting the truth by focusing primarily on crack, as has been done in this book. This is crack’s moment, but it probably will be superseded by ‘ice’ or some other drug within the next decade. Not that cocaine will disappear; it will be added to the growing panoply of psychoactive drugs that can be used, abused, and made and sold for profit. But the problem of crack cocaine must be seen in the context of the wider problem of substance abuse, and that, in turn, in terms of even broader problems of our current civilization. In western civilization, this means the problems of post-industrial society, where (to paraphrase Albert Einstein) we see a perfection of means and a confusion of ends.