Overview
- Explores the history of British drug use and regulation between the early 1920s and start of the 1960s
- Challenges widely-held perceptions that these decades were ‘quiet times’ in terms of drug use and subcultures
- Examines the doctors who prescribed under the ‘British System’, the Home Office that regulated it and those who used drugs for pleasure and entertainment
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book traces the history of the London ‘white drugs’ (opiate and cocaine) subculture from the First World War to the end of the classic ‘British System’ of drug prescribing in the 1960s. It also examines the regulatory forces that tried to suppress non-medical drug use, in both their medical and juridical forms. Drugs subcultures were previously thought to have begun as part of the post-war youth culture, but in fact they existed from at least the 1930s. In this book, two networks of drug users are explored, one emerging from the disaffected youth of the aristocracy, the other from the night-time economy of London’s West End. Their drug use was caught up in a kind of dance whose steps represented cultural conflicts over identity and the modernism and Victorianism that coexisted in interwar Britain.
Reviews
“This book fills a gap in the historiography between the 1920s and the 1960s and is unique as the roles of the regulators, suppliers and consumers are explored together. It is well-structured, carefully referenced and beautifully written. It was an absolute pleasure to read!” (Dr Karen Duke, Middlesex University, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Christopher Hallam is a Research Associate at the Global Drug Policy Observatory, Swansea University, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: White Drug Cultures and Regulation in London, 1916–1960
Authors: Christopher Hallam
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94770-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-94769-3Published: 22 August 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-06913-1Published: 28 December 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-94770-9Published: 09 August 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 249
Topics: History of Britain and Ireland, History of Medicine, Modern History, Cultural History, Health Policy