Drugs ­ an everyday story

Bridget Harrison on a report that does away with stereotypes

At last someone is talking sense about the way in which recreational drugs
are used in Britain. A study by the independent thinktank Demos ­ whose
director, Geoff Mulgan, advises Tony Blair ­ says that young people who use
such drugs are far removed from the stereotypical image of a generation of
deviants and junkies.

This may cause embarrassment to the Government and its newly appointed
drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, but will come as no surprise to many.

Slogans such as "War on Drugs" and "Just Say No", have become almost a joke
in a culture in which drug references are so obvious that they are hardly
noticed.

For most who go to bars, night clubs, festivals or parties, contact with
drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine, speed and cannabis is as normal as contact
with the opposite sex. This is not to say that anyone who sets foot in a
bar will automatically swallow a pill. With acceptance comes choice ­ much
like deciding what to wear for an evening, or whether to drink vodka or
orange juice.

This summer, I drove to a wedding with two lawyers and a film director ­
all in their twenties, with successful careers. They talked about presents
for the bride and groom and whether anyone might turn up with some Es.
Someone did, and several of the wedding party danced more than everyone
else and were awake to see the dawn. The rest of us left them to it.

I have attended dinner parties when cocaine has been brought instead of a
good bottle of wine. The idea that the person bringing it was a deviant, a
criminal or likely to ruin his or her life simply did not arise.

The real issue for the million or so "deviants" who use drugs every
weekend, just as "normal" people use alcohol or cigarettes, is access to
information on the substances they are taking. If I buy a pill, what does
it actually contain? If I am offered cocaine, what is it cut with? How can
I avoid drugs altogether? It is questions such as these that drug users
want the answers to. Mr Hellawell's response to the Demos report is to
welcome "further insight" into drug misuse. If he wishes to understand the
problem of drugs, the first step is for him to understand the people who
take them.