Narcomania: How Britain Got Hooked on Drugs

A timely and gripping investigation of illegal drugs in the UK. Filled with fascinating and shocking case studies gathered over 20 years of investigative reporting, it explodes many of the myths and misconceptions about drug use, and makes a compelling case for a new way forward. Looking at the dealers, the users, the police, and the politicians, Narcomania charts how consumption and markets have fragmented and changed over the last decade; follows the money to reveal where Britain's licit and illicit economies overlap; explains where each of the major recreational drugs comes from; and maps which drugs are popular in different parts of the country. It will explode many of the myths and misconceptions about drug use, and tap into fraught debates about how politicians, parents, and police should respond. In the wake of the internet boom, globalization, and a decade of decadence, Britain sits at a crossroads in the legalization-versus-intolerance debate. While other nations have succeeded with progressive experiments, inertia and self-contradiction define British drug policy to the detriment of everyone except the criminal underworld. Unsurprisingly, in the light of this book, our politicians are confused about what will please or displease the all-important middle class electorate. Equally unsurprisingly, however, so much myth and confusion surrounds the subject that clarity must be brought to chaos if the wisdom of the crowd is ever to surface.