Elaborates a number of concepts, models, and approaches for understanding the complexities of drug ause, establishing realistic goals for prevention and control, and adopting strategies having the greatest chance of success. Drawing upon research findings as well as experiences in several different countries, the book cautions against universal explanations and solutions, arguing that effective strategies must be based on an informed sense of the diversity of both drug abuse and drug misuers who stand in need of help. To this end, the book opens with explanations of the distinctive properties and risks of different drugs, the characteristics of different drug consumers, and the influence of different sociocultural settings on drug-taking behaviour. The most extensive sections of the book offer guidelines for devising appropriate preventive measures. Information ranges from an alert to the obstacles facing attempts at abolition to a scenario of what may happen when a drug is legalized, from policy options for dealing with resilient drug problems to the moral and practical problems raised when chemicals are used for crop eradication. The second half of the book presents similarly detailed information on treatment and case-finding, requirements for information and personnel, and guidelines for the planning and implementation of drug control strategies. The book is the culmination of several years of work on the part of the World Health Organization. Chapters also incorporate many of the discussions that took place during the Conference of Ministers of Health on Narcotic and Psychotropic Drug Misuse, organized jointly by WHO and the Government of the United Kingdom.

eng fre rus spa.

gre scr.

WHODOC

WHO monograph

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