From
Heroin To Ecstasy
100
Years Of Abuse In Britain
Jason
Bennetto
ref: July 98 Heroinsight
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 through 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 eight-fold 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: (i) developments in youth culture,
particularly music-based; and (ii) 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 prescriptions 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 six kilograms
of the substance in one year, although there were
still only 3000 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 of 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, 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 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.
