Illicit Drugs: Use and Control

Illicit drugs and their use are a dominant concern of politicians, policy makers and the general public. As such, this second edition of the popular Illicit Drugs: Use and Control provides a timely, up-to-date discussion of the key issues raised in the first edition, whilst also providing new chapters which address:


Class, gender and race


The geo-politics of illicit drug production and distribution


Britain’s drug use within a global context

Drawing information from wide-ranging sources, Adrian Barton illuminates the complex nature and broad impact illicit drug use carries in its wake and provides an overview of the contemporary state of the drug 'scene'.
This accessible book, with its inclusion of new pedagogical features, will be essential reading for students and researchers working in the area of drugs and society.

Adrian Barton is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Plymouth Law School, Plymouth University. His research focuses on illicit drug use, child abuse and child protection, and organisational behaviour, and his recent publications include Trust in New Labour (Edward Mellen Press, 2009), Illicit Drugs: Use and Control, 1st edition (Routledge, 2003), and Managing Fragmentation (Ashgate, 2002).

1. Preface and acknowledgements 2. British society and illicit drug use: historical perspectives 3. Measuring the ‘problem’: drug use in contemporary Britain 4. The British State’s legal and medical responses to illicit drug use 5. Illicit drug use: class, gender and ethnicity 6. Illicit drugs: growth and production 7. The geo-politics of illicit drug production and distribution 8. Illicit drugs: markets and market focus 9. Illicit drugs: paying for the goods and assessing the costs 10. Policing the problem: current trends in U.K. drug policy 11. Comparing British drug policy