FROM HEROIN TO ECSTASY: 100 YEARS OF ABUSE IN BRITAIN

Jason Bennetto finds music and economics have a central role in the drug culture

Drug-taking has come a long way since middle-class ladies held
cannabis-smoking parties in 1920s London and small groups of literary types
relaxed in opium dens. People in Britain today take a greater variety and
quantity of drugs at a younger age than ever before. Researchers estimate
there are 4 million consumers of illicit drugs. About 130,000 are
considered "problem users". Teenagers can buy heroin, LSD and ecstasy for
pocket-money prices throughout the country.

Drugs became a national phenomenon in the early 1970s, accelerated rapidly
in the 1980s, then exploded in the past decade. Surveys of schoolchildren
suggest drug use has increased eightfold since 1989.

The reasons for the expansion in the use and variety of drugs available are
complex but two factors appeared to have played a key role in most of the
changes this century - developments in youth culture, particularly
music-based, and the economy. At the turn of the century Britain was a
drug-free zone. For the first 20 years the main exceptions were Chinese-run
opium dens, where men and women could smoke it without fear of prosecution.

The clubs, most of which were based in London, attracted literary figures
such as Lewis Carroll as well as some women who became addicted and ended
up as prostitutes. One of the five main evils of the era was considered to
be women in opium dens. Another fashionable, and legal activity, was
cannabis-smoking parties, occasionally held by middle-class ladies. In 1920
the Dangerous Drugs Act made opiates such as heroin and cocaine only
available on prescription from doctors. In 1925 cannabis, or Indian Hemp,
as it was known, was outlawed following concerns in other countries about
its harmful side-effects.

Little is known about drug consumption in the Thirties and Forties except
that it was limited. During the Second World War troops were given
amphetamines to keep them alert during military operations. The Fifties
saw the moderate influence of the Teddy Boys and later, more importantly,
the Mods and Rockers. With the new rebellious music and fashion came
greater use of stimulants such as amphetamines, or "speed".

But it was the Sixties that marked the start of the popular drugs culture.
Hippie lifestyles included cannabis and hallucinates such as LSD and
amphetamines. In 1964 possession of amphetamine was made illegal and a year
later so was LSD. Towards the end of the decade barbiturates abuse kicked
in and led to the establishment of the first detoxification centres. It
took until 1984 before barbiturates became a prescription-only drug.

In 1965 the government-sponsored "Brain Committee" first identified heroin
as a serious problem, mainly among young working-class men from London and
the Home Counties, who were injecting it. Heroin was still relatively easy
to get on prescription - one doctor was known to have given out 6kg of the
substance in one year, although there were still only 3,000 notified
addicts in 1969. The year before the Government restricted the availability
of the drug to a small number of licensed doctors.

The next decade saw a gradual rise in the use of most drugs and the
expansion to all major cities. The Punk movement helped boost sales of
amphetamines. The 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, which categorised substances
into three classes of seriousness, A, B and C, for court sentencing remains
the most important piece of legislation.

The 1980s recession heralded the first "heroin epidemic", particularly in
estates in cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow. Fears of an
accompanying HIV injection epidemic brought a new approach by the
Government aimed more at damage limitation rather than "Just Say No"
sloganeering, with greater use of the heroin substitute, methadone. Glue
sniffing also hit the headlines at the beginning of the 1980s. Warnings of
a US-style crack cocaine epidemic failed to materialise.

The rave scene and all-night club culture hit Britain in 1987/8 and found
the perfect partner in ecstasy, which could keep you dancing and high for
hours. It also boosted consumption of amphetamines. The ecstasy club scene
continued into the mid-Nineties but has dropped off in the past few years
as raves and poor-quality "E" tablets have lost their appeal.

As the price of drugs plummeted, so their use rocketed. The country is
seeing a second heroin epidemic, in which the drug is pouring in from Asia
for as little as 3 a hit. Cocaine is back in fashion.

East European pharmaceutical factories find it more profitable to churn out
ecstasy and speed rather than headache tablets. This decade has also seen
teenage girls catch up with boys in drug use by the age of 15 and rural
areas face the same drug problems as urban ones.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)