National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK.
Addiction. 2010 Jun;105(6):984-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02925.x. Epub 2010 Mar 10.
In 1965 the British government was forced to admit that the country had an escalating heroin problem, with the supply coming mainly from prescribing by private practitioners. Within the official responses to what was seen at that time as a very worrying public health situation was the decision to fund the setting-up of the Addiction Research Unit (ARU) at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. The US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) generously sponsored a study tour for the nominated director of the ARU shortly before the opening of the British research centre. Extensive contemporaneous diary notes of a visit included contact with administrators, researchers, clinicians, parish priests, narcotic agents and addicts themselves. From a mass of often conflicting advice, some insights could be derived. In particular, these included the need for an awareness of any country's way of dealing with drug problems as a dynamic, multi-factorial total system--a holistic 'national response'. A further conclusion was to see policy itself as a complex subject for analysis: drug policy should be as much an issue for research as drug taking. Besides these broad conclusions, the experience provided many specific leads to development of a British addiction research programme, and fostered professional friendships of immeasurable worth.
1965 年，英国政府被迫承认，该国的海洛因问题正在不断升级，供应主要来自私人医生的处方。在官方对当时被视为非常令人担忧的公共卫生状况的反应中，决定资助伦敦精神病学研究所的成瘾研究单位（ARU）的成立。美国国家心理健康研究所（NIMH）在英国研究中心开业前不久慷慨地资助了 ARU 提名主任的考察旅行。访问期间的大量同期日记记录包括与行政人员、研究人员、临床医生、教区牧师、麻醉剂和吸毒者本人的接触。从大量经常相互矛盾的建议中，可以得出一些见解。特别是，这些见解包括需要认识到任何国家处理毒品问题的方式都是一个动态的、多因素的整体系统——一个整体的“国家应对”。另一个结论是，将政策本身视为一个需要分析的复杂问题：毒品政策应该像吸毒一样成为研究的一个问题。除了这些广泛的结论，这次经历还为英国成瘾研究计划的发展提供了许多具体的线索，并促进了无法估量价值的专业友谊。
