Booze, fags and smack

Alcohol and tobacco are linked with the use of illegal drugs, it is unequivocally stated in a major new independent report, Drug Misuse and the Environment, published by the Home Office.

Speaking at the report's launch, Home Office Minister George Howarth, said that it "paints an accurate and rounded picture of the complex social problems linked to drug misuse."

The authors, who make up the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, accept the findings of various surveys which show that the use of alcohol and tobacco are predictors of the use of illicit drugs. "If society intends to provide young people with an environment which helps them not to take illicit drugs (or abuse volatile substances), or to reduce the harms which they do, the climate of awareness and belief on alcohol and tobacco must be seen as part of that context."

Attention is drawn to the problem of children drinking alcohol (Alert passim ): "Many of the studies on young people have identified significant proportions consuming alcohol...Most recently there has been concern over the availability of a number of alcoholic drinks, which in aspects of their marketing, and in some cases their sweet taste, may particularly appeal to young people - these drinks include a variety of white ciders and fruit wines. It has been shown that many of these drinks are being widely consumed by those under 16."

The report draws attention to the vital fact that for "many young people alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs inhabit one and the same world rather than constituting separate domains." The need to consider the influence of the general view of legal drugs on illegal drug-taking behaviour is stressed. "There is clear evidence from US data that early use of licit drugs increases the risk of developing patterns of illicit drug use at a later stage. The majority of people who have used illicit drugs have previously used tobacco and alcohol. Similarly those who have never smoked or consumed alcohol rarely report use of illicit drugs. Alcohol and cigarette smoking have been found to be the most powerful predictors of marijuana use for both females and males and the relationship strongest where the cigarette smoking had begun before the individual was aged 17."

The tendency to demonize such "dance drugs" as ecstasy or amphetamines whilst condoning the use of alcohol is acknowledged as dangerous. "Young people live in a society which heavily advertises alcohol and tobacco, and where they are readily and lawfully accessible, and the advertising of "alcopops" has on occasion seemingly been targeted at young people and has at times veered towards open encouragement of drunkenness."

The report recommends that Drug Action Teams, one of which is located in each Health Authority, tackle alcohol misuse alongside drug misuse. "When setting up drug prevention policies consideration will often need at the same time to be given to the place of alcohol, tobacco and volatile substances in the scheme of things. Drug prevention policies which ignore licit drugs lack credibility."

In the section of the report which sets drug misuse in its historical perspective the authors state that in the nineteeth century in England alcohol was 'the major substance problem... and there is vivid contemporary testimony as to the appalling social consequences of slum drinking which were embedded in social deprivation of an extent and intensity which is today fortunately long since gone. The more privileged sectors of society at the same time also drank heavily.' It was in these circumstances of extreme social damage that the temperance movement grew up, championed by such diverse figures as Cardinal Manning and Keir Hardie. It is all too easy to assume that the alcohol problem has been removed, or at least been substantially ameliorated, by greatly improved social conditions. What this report makes clear, is that it has merely changed its nature. At the same time, the connexion between illicit drug use and social deprivation is emphasised.