Drugs: Policy And Politics: Policy and Politics (Introducing Social Policy (Paperback))

Drugs: Policy and Politics is an accessible introduction to the links between drugs and social policy. Assessing current and recent policies and political responses, it considers the ways in which drugs policy is formulated and implemented in the UK and Europe. The book examines the dynamic context of drug policy through discussions of broader policy fields such as health and the criminal justice system. The contributors offer evidence-based insights into the social complexities of both drug use and drug users, as they examine those specific groups who are associated with particular patterns of drug use. Drug issues are linked with aspects of gender, race and social exclusion, all of which have a resonance in the current discourses of policy making. Drugs: Policy and Politics provides an important set of tools with which to rethink the diversity of drug use and drug users. It is important reading for social policy students and researchers, as well as trainee social workers, probation officers, police and prison officers. Half Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Series Editors foreword 8 List of Abbreviations 10 Editors’ Introduction 12 Chapter 01 Social Exclusion, Drugs and Policy 18 Chapter 02 Gender, Drugs and Policy 35 Chapter 03 Young People and Drugs 35 Chapter 04 One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? The Politics of ‘Race’1 and Drugs and How Policy-makers Interpret Things 62 Chapter 05 Drugs, Law and the Regulation of Harm 76 Chapter 06 Drugs, Crime and Criminal Justice 92 Chapter 07 Drugs and Health Policy 109 Chapter 08 Drifting Towards a More Common Approach to a More Common Problem: Epidemiology and the Evolution of a European Drug Policy 130 Chapter 09 Contemporary Social Theory in the Drugs Field 142 Index 156 Set within the context of current and recent policy and political response, this study considers the way in which policy has been formulated and implemented with reference to a range of substantive and theoretical areas