The role of the voluntary agencies in the various aspects of prevention and rehabilitation of drug abusers.

Abstract

SummaryThe year 1967 was crucial in the growth of the British drug scene and of the voluntary agencies within it. These operate at three levels: casualty caring, after‐care, and preventative and educational work. There are four main groups of agencies: evangelical Christian bodies; communities which have developed from the Church or on a Christian basis; social work bodies; and Underground groups. There are problems of co‐ordination, and some of the needs and difficulties in the field of casualty work, after‐care and education art discussed. The voluntary bodies need to retain their role as pressure groups and agitators.1967 saw the ‘Rolling Stones’ court case, the first of a series of sensational press coverages of cannabis offences invoicing pop stars; the “freaky” summer when Scott Mackenzie's ‘San Francisco’ topped the hit parade, when Carnaby Street rang with bells and the word “hippy” came into common usage with the swift exploitation of the psychedelic movement by the very straight capitalists in the textile trades; and with the idealising of San Francisco as a paradise state “gentle people with flowers in their hair”, the upsurge of LSD use and the emergence of an add culture. 1967 also saw the beginning of an epidemic of intravenous methylamphetamine abuse, associated closely with the activities of several doctors in Central London1, and the rapid growth of a needle cult in the West End, The realisation too that out‐patient facilities for heroin addicts were, in spite of official assurances, either nonexistent or woefully inadequate led to an intensive campaign in the national press2 which was to bear some fruit in the following year. Finally, 1967 saw the emergence of a number of voluntary bodies, including the Association far the Prevention of Addiction3 and Release4 both of which came into being early that year, and the beginning of an interest in drug abuse problems throughout the country.