Bringing together a range of important new research findings, this book provides a clear account of the effects and incidence of heroin use in Britain, the policies presently deployed to combat it, and the broader patterns of production and distribution of the drug. The authors relate heroin use to other drug abuse and show many of the assumptions that underlie current policy to be erroneous proposing the elements of an alternative policy agenda. Essential reading for all concerned with the drug problem. `...I would enthusiastically commend the book to anyone with a basic working knowledge of the drug field who needed stimulation for a thought provoking weekend.' British Journal of Addiction