Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Considerable research, policy and media attention has focused recently on drug use in Britain, wider Europe, the US and other advanced western societies such as Australia and Canada. However, the place of drugs in other cultural contexts has received far less attention. Little is known about the use of drugs in non-western societies and this lack of comparative knowledge hinders a broader understanding of drug use, the way problems are attached to it and the nature of inappropriately applied social and regulatory policies. This book examines drug use (including alcohol) in different cultural contexts, showing how the claim of tradition can persist even while the impetus toward change is pervasive. In some cases, change is strongly resisted; in others its effects are profound and potentially highly destructive. In a world of globalization, western investment and leisure tourism can combine with the profiteering of international drug trafficking to transform traditional patterns of int