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Policing and Prescribing pp 176–199Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

AIDS and British Drug Policy: History Repeats Itself…?

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Abstract

There appear to have been some radical changes in British drug policy since the advent of AIDS. Since the discovery of the HIV virus among British drug users at the end of 1985, the pace of policy change has been rapid. Two major reports on AIDS and Drug Misuse have followed, together with £17 million for the development of drug services. At least 100 needle exchanges offering new for used syringes are the most tangible public expression of new developments, underlining the view that the danger of the spread of AIDS from drug users into the general population is a greater threat to the nation’s health than the danger of drug misuse itself. British drug policy and in particular the visible manifestation of a harm-minimisation approach in the form of needle exchanges, has attracted worldwide attention. Some commentators have as a result argued that AIDS has changed the direction of British drug policy.

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Virginia Berridge
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nottingham, UK

    David K. Whynes (Senior Lecturer in Economic) (Senior Lecturer in Economic)

  2. University of Loughborough, UK

    Philip T. Bean (Reader in Criminology) (Reader in Criminology)

Copyright information

© 1991 David K. Whynes and Philip T. Bean

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Berridge, V. (1991). AIDS and British Drug Policy: History Repeats Itself…?. In: Whynes, D.K., Bean, P.T. (eds) Policing and Prescribing. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11451-1_10

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