Heroin Addiction and The British System: Volume I Origins and Evolution

The British system of dealing with drug addiction is notable for its flexibility and its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances. Because of this it has attracted considerable international interest, although it is rarely fully understood or accurately represented. Presenting a comprehensive account of the development of policies and treatments, Heroin Addiction a brings together the perspectives of policy makers, practitioners and social commentators. The book contributes to a proper understanding of how policy and practice has evolved so that lessons for future policy and practice may be identified. Volume I of Heroin Addiction focuses on the evolution of the drugs problem in the UK, examining the social and economic consequences from historical and contemporary perspectives. It is a unique source of reference for students, researchers, healthcare professionals and drug agencies both in the UK and overseas.

Table of Contents:
1. The History of Heroin Prescribing and Other Injectable Drugs as Addiction Treatment in the U.K. 2. The Origins of the New Drug Clinics of the 1960s: Clinical Demand and the Formation of Policy 3. The New Drug Clinics of the 1968: 'Everything Will be Alright When the New Place is Built' 4. Uncertainty and Crisis Within Drug Clinics in the 1970s 5. The Fall and Rise of the General Practitioner 6. The GP and the Drug Misuser in the New NHS: a New 'British System' 7. Treating Drug Dependence in Primary Care: Reflecting on the Problems as Well as the Potential 8. The Rise and Fall of the Community Drug Team: the Gap Between Aspiration and Achievement 9. The Coming of Age of Oral Methadone Maintenance Programmes in the U.K. in the 1990s 10. Last Call for Injectable Opiate Maintenance: in Pursuit of an Evidence Base for Good Clinical Practice 11. Experimental Amphetamine Maintenance Prescribing 12. Free-Standing and Pharmacy-Based Needle and Syringe Exchange Schemes in Britain 13. The Emergence of City-Wide Public Health Responses to the Drugs Problem 14. Narcotics Anonymous (NA) in Britain: the Stepping up of the Phenomenon 15. The Origins, Arrival and Spread of Residential Minnesota Model Centres Across the U.K. 16. Treatment to Order: the New Drug Treatment and Testing Orders 17. The Government Task Force and its Review of Drug Treatment Services: the Promotion of an Evidence-Based Approach 18. The 'British System': Extraordinary Individual Freedom, but to What End?