As a Lecturer in Sociology at Lancaster University, helping students gain an understanding of the contested nature of ‘drugs’ and what we might call ‘the drugs problem’ is often at the forefront of my mind. The challenge is to support student learning about an incredibly complex issue presented in often simplistic and moralistic terms by the media and politicians.
Teaching my final year module Drugs, Crime and Society has been a pleasure this year, with the students really getting stuck into the debates that are crucial in critical drug studies. I hope the book my colleagues and I recently published helped them, and will help others in years to come.
Coomber, R., McElrath, K., Measham, F. and Moore, K. (2013) Key Concepts in Drugs and Society, London: Sage.