Drug Nation: Patterns, Problems, Panics, and Policies

Martin A. Plant is Professor of Addiction Studies in the Alcohol & Health Research Unit in the University of the West of England, Bristol. His publications include the books Drugtakers in an English Town (1975), Drugs in Perspective (1981,1987), Risktakers: Alcohol, Drugs, Sex and Youth (1992), Alcohol: Minimising the Harm (1997), The Alcohol Report (2000), Binge Britain: Alcohol & the National Response (2006). He is co-editor of a four volume anthologyentitled Addiction: Major Themes in Health and Welfare (2007). He is Director of the UK part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol & other Drugs (ESPAD). His special interests include the epidemiology of alcohol and other drug use and the effectiveness of and barriers to the implementation ofpolicy options. Roy Robertson is Honorary Clinical Reader in the Division of Community Health Sciences in the University of Edinburgh. He has worked as a full time National Health Service general practitioner for many years in a deprived area of Edinburgh. He has directed the long-running Edinburgh Drug Addiction Study and is an acknowledged authority on illicit drugs and HIV/AIDS. He has served on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs as well as committees of the Department of Health, the Home Officeand the Scottish Executive. He was Chairman of the Shipman Committee. Roy currently holds a grant from the Chief Scientist Office to research the long-term effects of injecting drug use. He has been a trainer in General Practice and an advisor to various parliamentary, criminal justice, media andeducational groups on topics relating to drug misuse, hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. His publications include the book Heroin, AIDS and Society. Roy Robertson is doctor to HM the Queen in Scotland. Patrick Miller is Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Alcohol & Health Research Unit in the University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom. He has worked for many years on surveys of substance use both in adults and in teenagers. He plays a leading role in analysing and documenting findings from the UK part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD). Patrick is Chairman of the ESPAD working group on attitudes. He is also a key member of theresearch team working on Gender, Alcohol & Culture: An International Study (GENACIS) for the UK and the Isle of Man. He has also been involved in studies of schizophrenia and, in particular, in work on life events and depression.