Book Review : Book Reviews
| Date | 01 March 1969 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056901500110 |
| Published date | 01 March 1969 |
| Author | Michael Nyman |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
32
BOOK
REVIEWS
Social
Problems
of
Drug
Abuse
Edited
by
Frank
Dawtry
Butterworths
15s
SINCE
the
dawn
of
history
it
has
been
known
that
man
has
used
products
of
certain
plants
to
alter
his
mood
and
enable
him
to
escape
from
some
of
the
rigours
of
reality.
As
society
has
become
more
complex,
so
the
use
of
these
substances,
known
as
drugs,
has
increased.
The
general
insecurities
of
post-
war
Western
civilisation,
plus
the
increase
in
numbers
of
young
people,
have
had
the
effect
of
causing
younger
and
younger
people
to
take
refuge
in
this
artificial
means.
As
Western
society
is
basically
puritanical,
legislation
con-
trolling
the
use
of
drugs
has
been
tightened
and
penalties
for
breaking
these
laws
have
become
more
severe.
This,
then,
is
the
background
to
the
concern
felt
by
the
probation
service
for
the
ever
growing
numbers
of
people
appearing
before
the
courts
on
drug
charges.
As
an
expression
of
this
concern
the
National
Association
of
Probation
Officers
set
up
a
working
party
to
produce
this
present
book
with
a
view
to
providing
-help
and
guidance
to
colleagues.
The
book
takes
many
situations
well
known
to
probation
officers
and
illustrates
them
liberally
with
case
material.
Chapter
II
for
example,
deals
with
the
complexities
of
assessment
for
a
court
report.
It
lays
emphasis
on
the
per-
sonality
caused
by
drug
taking.
Chapter
III
gives
an
excellent
example
of
an
addict
under
supervision
and
Chapter
IV
provides
a
very
interesting
discussion
on
the
probation
officer
and
the
addict.
This
is
based
on
a
discussion
of
probation
officers
in
South-West
England,
which
proved
so
fruitful
that
it
seems
a
pity
that
more
space
was
not
devoted
to
it.
The
fifth
chapter
is
an
extremely
interesting
philosophical
dissertation
entitled
&dquo;Two
Social
Roles&dquo;.
It
discusses
the
ambivalence
felt
by
society
towards
drug
takers
and
drug
takers
to
society
as
well
as
drug
takers
to
themselves
and
to
the
helping
agencies,
i.e.
probation
officers.
This
and
the
previous
chapter
constitute
the
meatiest
part
of
the
work.
Liaison
probation
work
in
treatment
centres
is
the
topic
of
Chapter
VI,
being
followed
in
Chapter
VII
by
the
work
of
setting
up
a
diagnostic
clinic
in
a
London
Borough
in
which
the
probation
service
played
an
extremely
valuable
part.
This
shows
what
an
imaginative
probation
officer
can
achieve
and
it
is
a
pity
that
more
such
examples
were
not
quoted
in
the
book
rather
than
the
subject
of
Chapter
VIII,
which
is
Drug
Addiction
and
Treatment
in
North
America.
Writing
about
addiction
in
North
America
is
as
helpful
to
British
workers
as
writing
about
addiction
in
London
is
to
provincial
workers,
merely
that
of
providing
a
warning.
The
inclusion
of
this
paper
could
only
be
justified
if
the
book
was
looking
at
various
international
aspects
of
the
problem
and
then
it
would
be
necessary
to
quote
from
other
countries,
for
example
Scandinavia
and
Hong
Kong,
with
a
view
to
giving
a
truly
balanced
picture.
Between
this
chapter
and
some
conclusions
in
Chapter
IV
are
four
pages
of
photographs
of
drugs
which
can
only
have
the
effect
of
putting
up
the
price
and
generally
confusing
the
innocent
worker.
The
conclusions
themselves
are
valid
to
the
book
as
it
stands
and
merit
close
studies.
Part
11
of
the
book
is
purely
textbook
’material
and
is
included
for
help
and
guidance.
Chapter
X
is
a
classification
of
drugs
and
their
effects
and
Chapter
XI
is
a
resumd
of
the
law
with
regard
to
dangerous
drugs.
Chapter
XII
calls
itself
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