Occasional and Controlled Heroin Use: Not a Problem? (Drugs and Alcohol Research Programme S.) - Softcover

Warburton, Hamish; Turnbull, Paul J.; Hough, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1859354246 ISBN 13: 9781859354247

Publisher: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2005

Synopsis

There is a popular belief that the pharmacological properties of heroin draw users inexorably towards regular dependent use and personal degeneration. However, there is evidence that some people manage long-term use without falling into chaotic, or even dependent, using patterns. These users tend to be excluded from studies of drug use, which typically draw participants from treatment services or from the criminal justice system, and little is known either about the risks that they face or the methods they use to manage their heroin use. This report is based on a study of users who manage their long-term heroin use. It documents the users' perception of their heroin use as non-problematic and outlines how they controlled the drug - such as not-injecting, limiting the days on which they used heroin and not buying the drug if they did not have the money - and their reasons for controlling its use. The report also discusses the circumstances surrounding the users' initiation into drug use, particularly heroin, and examines the influence of cultural, social and economic factors on their habit. "Occasional and Controlled Heroin Use" suggests that sustained heroin use does not necessarily lead to dependency and, where it does, it does not always cause major problems. The authors argue that much public and policy understanding of heroin use in grounded in inaccurate and narrow stereotypes and suggest that the techniques used by non-problematic heroin users could be used to inform conventional treatment services for those with drug problems that are out of control.

About this title

About the Author

Hamish Warburton is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR) at King's College, London. Previously He has been involved in a number studies looking at different aspects of drug use and drug policy, including a study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the policing of Cannabis (Times they are a-changing: policing of cannabis, 2002, ISBN 1 84263 062 8). Paul J Turnbull is Deputy Director of ICPR and has carried out research into needle exchange, drug misuse, arrest referral and HIV risk behaviour schemes. Mike Hough set up the ICPR in 2003. Recent work has involved drug issues, attitudes to punishment, crime reduction methods and the Policing For London study.

Edition details

• Publisher: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1859354246
• ISBN 13: 9781859354247
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 86