Institutional Responses to Drug Demand in Central Europe

This title was first first published in 2002: Understanding the link between institutional contexts and drug problems is crucial to the process of developing appropriate drug policies and drug demand reduction strategies. However, this link is too often taken for granted, with most drug-related research relying on epidemiological, bio-medical or clinical approaches, ignoring the social contexts in which drug use finds its causes and where its consequences are most visible and hardest felt. This book analyses the institutional responses to the drug problem in the States of Central and Eastern Europe, providing conclusive evidence that the drug problem is a social one and that its causes emerge from a broad array of social factors. Charting the changing policy perceptions and attitudes towards drugs and related problems alongside new organizations designed to counteract drug-related problems, the book provides important new insights into one of the most important problems confronting nations around the world.