Drug use by adolescents is usually viewed as the result of personal vulnerability to peer pressures and drug pushers. This book provides a new perspective, which is sociological rather than epidemiological, understanding patterns of drug taking in the context of ordinary social interaction. In this social worlds analysis, adolescents'' own concerns with boredom, depression, social identity, friendship, access to drugs, self-control and folk pharmacology replace the professionals'' focus on deviant behaviour.

Drug use by adolescents is usually viewed as the result of personal vulnerability to peer pressures and drug pushers. This book provides a new perspective, which is sociological rather than epidemiological, understanding patterns of drug taking in the context of ordinary social interaction. In this social worlds analysis, adolescents'' own concerns with boredom, depression, social identity, friendship, access to drugs, self-control and folk pharmacology replace the professionals'' focus on deviant behaviour.