The Piccadilly drug scene

Drugs, Deprivation, and Ethnicity: Outreach among Asian Drug Users in a Northern English City

One consistent theme within public debates on the problem of drug misuse is its association with minority ethnic groups (Pearson 1995b). It is, nevertheless, a peculiar feature of the British drug scene that members of black and other minority groups have been significantly underrepresented among known populations of problem drug users. This despite the fact that there has been clear evidence since the early 1980s of a concentration of the most serious drug-related problems in areas of high unemployment and social deprivation, and that ethnic minorities in Britain experience a high degree of social exclusion in terms of poverty, housing deprivation, educational disadvantage, and discrimination in the labor force (Jones 1996). It is entirely possible, of course, that drug users from Britain's black communities are more likely to remain unknown to service agencies—reflecting other aspects of disadvantage in access to health care (Awiah et al. 1992). In what continues to be a rapidly changing drug scene in Britain, this paper sets out to review this perplexing area of drugs, deprivation, and ethnic minority status, while also presenting evidence in Part II from an outreach project among Asian drug injectors in the city of Bradford in the north of England.

Drinking, the construction of ethnic identity and social process in a Western Australian youth subculture

This paper presents an anthropological analysis of the meaning of drinking for the male members of the Skinhead youth subculture in Perth, Western Australia. Perth Skinheads are an exported and modified form of the original English Skinhead subculture. Using participant observation as the primary research method, the style of drinking is analysed as one of the ways in which the members of this subculture express their English ethnicity and constitutive of the social processes which underpin the subculture. The article also explores the reasons why Perth Skinheads do not conform to a pattern of drinking in rounds held to be characteristic of some working class drinking groups.

Male heroin addicts and their female mates: impact on disorder and recovery

A pilot investigation was undertaken to determine whether the social relationships between men who currently used heroin with their female mates differed from those of men who formerly used heroin, but were currently abstinent, with their female mates. Six couples were selected for study via the representative case method. Men currently abstinent from heroin had begun drug use later, had a family history of affective disorders, and had initiated their conjugal relationship after cessation of heroin use. Female mates of males currently abstinent from heroin had never used heroin with their mates in conjunction with sexual activity, had significantly positive ratings of their mates' performance of social roles, and were striving to obtain formal training to improve their employment skills. In contrast, the couples including actively using heroin addicts used opiates together, especially to enhance their sexual activity. The relationships of these couples were not as mutually supportive, and the male's role was less responsible and attracted less respect than that of the abstinent male. The females were depressed and had little positive aspects to their lives. Partners in all couples experienced a large number of stressful events, but current heroin use increased stress and hampered coping efforts. Interaction analysis of dynamics in relationships of men currently abstinent from heroin revealed that participation in mates' family life served to reshape their behaviors into more socially acceptable roles.

Psychoactive substance use and related behaviours of 135 regular illicit drug users in Scotland

Using a 'snowballing' technique, prospective data have been collected from 135 regular drug using individuals in two Scottish towns, Edinburgh, and Ayr. Data from the first wave would suggest that poly drug use is common, with a major reliance on licit, prescribed substances. Amongst both intravenous and non-intravenous drug users, awareness and concern about HIV/AIDS would not appear to have produced significant changes in sexual behaviour. Furthermore, responses from intravenous users indicate that there has been no large scale adoption of safer injection techniques.

A British view of prescribing pharmaceutical heroin to opiate addicts: a critique of the "heroin solution" with special reference to the Piccadilly and Kensington market drug scenes in London

Using data derived from the London drug subculture, this study evaluates a suggestion that has become a source of recent international discussion, namely that as a means of solving the "heroin problem" and organized crime's involvement in it, pharmaceutical heroin should be prescribed legally to opiate addicts. It concludes that if the "heroin solution" were implemented in London this policy would have a number of negative unintended consequences. It would not undercut the illicitly manufactured heroin market to any extent but would most probably lead as well to a rapid and substantial increase in the numbers of pharmaceutical heroin users in Britain. This examination also indicates the need to evaluate the "heroin solution" before it is introduced into other countries, in the light of issues examined in this analysis.

The ideologies of despair: a symbolic interpretation of punks and skinheads' usage of barbiturates

In this paper a symbolic approach will be used to explain the high rate of barbiturate misuse among two modern youth movements namely punks and skinheads. It will be argued that punks and skinheads are youth social protest movements which have channelled their social protest through subcultural 'style' and symbolism. Neither group has developed an articulate coherent philosophy at the self-conscious level, rather both groups express their 'style' symbolically by dress, attitudes and behaviour. Both movements are working class in ethic, but whilst punks embody a total alienation from and rejection of conventional society, the skinheads identify with a militant working class ethic. Like many people in modern society, both groups have turned to bodily symbolism as a means of expressing themselves and their position in society. The punks and skinheads interviewed came from extremely disrupted and delinquent backgrounds which may be a general tendency amongst members of these movements. It is suggested that as a result of many of their members' disrupted backgrounds, these groups have developed negative and disturbed attitudes in their ideologies which they express symbolically through the medium of their bodies in a number of ways, including through the use of drugs. Barbiturates are amongst the most self-destructive and negative of drugs and bodily behaviour induced by them provides those punks and skinheads who use drugs with an ideal vehicle for symbolically expressing their frustration and discontent.