Research Handbook on Drugs and Society

This Research Handbook presents cutting-edge scholarship on key theoretical, conceptual and disciplinary approaches to understanding drugs and society. It explores the socially and culturally pervasive nature of illicit drugs, demonstrating how the drug question bears all the distinctive hallmarks of a seemingly intractable ‘wicked problem’ and constitutes a major twenty-first century global challenge.

Leading international scholars expertly synthesise critical empirical research and data to generate a global picture of contemporary patterns and trends in drug production, distribution and consumption. Highlighting critical insights from diverse historical and disciplinary perspectives, the Research Handbook also examines the impact of drug use on individuals and societies, providing an intellectual framework for developing transformative solutions to this complex transnational issue.

The Research Handbook on Drugs and Society is an essential resource for scholars and students of sociology, criminology and public health, and social scientists more broadly. It is also highly relevant to policy and campaigning organisations looking to address the societal challenges raised by the drug problem.