The Politics of Addiction: Medical Conflict and Drug Dependence in England Since the 1960s (Science, Technology and Medicine in Modern History)

The Politics of Addiction examines power and policy-making in the context of a bitter conflict between private and publicly employed doctors treating addiction. Regulation was used by both the profession and the state to shape the treatment of addiction and who could provide it, with the media feeding into the process. In the 1980s, after a period of peaceful co-existence, a bitter conflict arose between National Health Service psychiatrists and private doctors treating drug addiction. Continuing into the twenty-first century, the battle ended with most private addiction doctors being struck from the medical register. This book examines how the conflict played out and what weapons were used by each side. The contrasting organizational structures of the private and public doctors and the changing policy context help to explain why one side triumphed and the other succumbed to extensive medical discipline. Personalities also played an important part: senior civil servants took a major role in shaping British policy to their own privately held beliefs and turnover in these posts significantly affected attempts to regulate private doctors. Based on 55 oral history interviews with key players and private prescribers as well as previously undisclosed documents, The Politics of Addiction gives a detached, historical analysis of this polarised debate Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction....Pages 1-5 1965–2010: A Background Sketch....Pages 6-25 Prescribing and Proscribing: The Treatment and Rehabilitation Report....Pages 26-43 Defining ‘Good Clinical Practice’....Pages 44-64 Ambiguous Justice: The General Medical Council and Dr Ann Dally....Pages 65-88 ‘Friendly’ Visits and ‘Evil Men’: The Home Office Drugs Inspectorate....Pages 89-116 Unifying Hierarchs and Fragmenting Individualists: Three Professional Groups....Pages 117-146 Guidelines and the Licensing Question....Pages 147-166 Conclusion....Pages 167-180 Back Matter....Pages 181-260