Addiction and After

Abstract

The development of the British response to ‘the drugs problem’ since the 1960s does not lend itself readily to any optimistic interpretation. The initial wave of enthusiasm for clinics during the latter years of the 1960s soon faded. The clinic system was deprived of sufficient support, and many staff became disillusioned and burnt out. Treatment and responses gradually changed, not as the result of any clearly thought-out policy, but as the result of a vague drift of views.