Changing Lives, Changing Drug Journeys

Lisa Williams is Lecturer in Criminology at the Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice, in the School of Law, University of Manchester. For over a decade, she has undertaken research of both recreational and dependent forms of drug taking. Her research has focused upon recreational drug journeys during the life course exploring onset, stability, change and desistance.

"The book's strength is that it gives a voice to the most common but often most forgotten type of user: the recreational user whose use is pleasurable, social and largely a product of a complex mix of agency, structure and culture. It is regrettable that those voices are not more often heard in the cacophony of noise currently surrounding public debates on drug use in the twenty first century." — Dr. Adrian Barton, Plymouth University, UK"The book's strength is that it gives a voice to the most common but often most forgotten type of user: the recreational user whose use is pleasurable, social and largely a product of a complex mix of agency, structure and culture." – Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books"In addressing a group of drug users who haven’t been the traditional focus of drug policy (as well as those who abstain) but who make up the majority of users in the country, Williams has produced a narrative that helpfully reminds us of the complex interplay of experience, relationships and place that help shape their decisions."— Andrew Brown, Druglink

• 1. Understanding and researching drug taking: lessons from the past  2. Theorizing decisions about drug taking  3. A balancing act? Weighing up the costs and benefits to health and well-being  4. The meaning of pleasure and risk in a cultural context  5. The journey to adulthood  6. At the crossroads: life journeys and drug journeys  7. Drug taking and risk assessment reconsidered