Nicholas Dorn

A Land fit for heroin? : drug policies, prevention, and practice

Dedication - Acknowledgements - Introduction N.Dorn and N.South - Heroin Today: Commodity, Consumption, Control and Care ISDD Research and Development Unit - The War on Heroin: British Policy and the International Trade in Illicit Drugs G.Stimson - Social Deprivation, Unemployment and Patterns of Heroin Use G.Pearson - How Families and Communities Respond to Heroin M.Donoghoe, N.Dorn, C.James, S.Jones, J.Ribbens and N.South - British Policy on the Treatment and Care of Drug Takers S.MacGregor and B.Ettorre - Reconciling Policy and Practice N.Dorn and N.South - Bibliography - Index

UK Policing of Drug Traffickers and Users: Policy Implementation in the Contexts of National Law, European Traditions, International Drug Conventions, and Security after 2001

This paper examines the day-to-day implementation of drug legislation in the United Kingdom (UK) by enforcement agencies, prosecution authorities, and courts within the broader contexts of national law on drug trafficking and possession, international drug conventions (especially the 1988 United Nations Convention), and issues concerning security and transnational organized crime. The situation in the UK is described, with some European comparison points. Increasingly, both in terms of the letter of the law and in everyday practice, police action against drug users in relation to simple possession is being deemphasized, especially with regard to cannabis. Government prioritizes its anti-trafficking action, especially in relation to “the drugs that do most harm.” The ways in which this strategy fits with the international drug conventions is outlined. In conclusion, this paper speculates how, in the light of the current climate surrounding international security, UK and other European drug policies might develop in future.

Criminology and Economics of Drug Distribution in Britain: Options for Control

In this paper focus is upon the criminology and economics of drug control in Britain and criticizes the prevalent and dominating concepts of “supply” and “demand” that underlie current drug control theory and policies. An alternative perspective is proposed that rests upon appreciation of the importance of the drug distribution system (between supply and demand) as a part of the irregular economy and as the primary motor behind recent expansions in heroin use in Britain. The possibilities are discussed for intervention in the irregular economy, viewed within the context of recent trends in thinking about crime prevention and family responses.

How families and communities respond to heroin

How people respond to heroin at local level is of interest to all those concerned with the relationship between social policy and social action. First, from the point of view of social policy, drug problems generally and heroin-related problems specifically are seen as one arena in which policies of community care, self-help and parental responsibility are being tested out. Are such policies feasible, are they desirable, and how do they work in practice?

Reconciling policy and practice

In this final chapter we draw upon those preceding and examine the prospects for the development of policy and practice in response to heroin problems. As the preceding chapters have shown, Britain’s heroin problem in the 1980s has grown out of changes in structural circumstances (factors in international trade, developments in the domestic economy in Western countries) and the response to these circumstances by a range of social groups (who become variously involved in distribution, consumption, care and control).

Return of the topic. Developments in drug education and training.

There is no shortage of drug education in the mass media, and in youth training schemes and schools. The danger is that drugs are being focused on as a topic in isolation, when a broader approach maybe more productive.