{"id":146087,"date":"2023-02-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=913611"},"modified":"2023-02-12T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T00:00:00","slug":"hippy-daze-a-survey-of-the-uk-drugs-scene-1973","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/02\/12\/hippy-daze-a-survey-of-the-uk-drugs-scene-1973\/","title":{"rendered":"Hippy daze: a survey of the UK drugs scene, 1973"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

\u2018If you found one of these in your child\u2019s pocket, would you know what it was?\u2019 the Observer asked on 21 October 1973, introducing its guide to that year\u2019s drugs scene, over a picture of a joint and a foil square of heroin. The dossier investigated how drugs reached Britain and the economics of the trade, interviewing users and smugglers. There\u2019s a drug-by-drug layperson\u2019s guide and a startling photo of a row of thriving marijuana plants growing next to a Scotland Yard officer\u2019s desk (to appear in court as evidence, the caption explains).
\nGerrard Street in Soho is described as \u2018to the Chinese heroin trade what Covent Garden is to fruit and vegetables\u2019
\nOther surprises include an interview with a long-term addict recovering from an overdose who explains, \u2018Gabs got her heroin prescribed by doctors who, before the law was altered in the late 1960s, were allowed to do so.\u2019 Becky, another interviewee, says: \u2018I don\u2019t really use drugs any more,\u2019 but explains she still takes \u2018a few barbs\u2019, smokes cannabis and has \u2018a prescription for speeds from the doctor to help me with my weight\u2019. Gerrard Street in Chinatown is described as \u2018to the Chinese heroin trade what Covent Garden is to fruit and vegetables,\u2019 with \u2018thin, nervy customers hanging around in doorways.\u2019 The price of drugs is fascinating, as past prices of everything are: \u00a31.50 for 10mg of heroin; 12p for a speed pill.
\nThe report probed the possible motivation of the estimated 10,000 drug-dependent people in Britain (one for every 300 alcoholics). \u2018There is a sense of belonging to an exclusive, even exciting, group if you\u2019re a junkie,\u2019 it mused, while also focusing on the \u2018fear and pain\u2019 behind much superficial counter-culture bravado. Gab had lost a good friend and become temporarily blind; Becky longed to save up and buy a house: \u2018an impossible aspiration\u2019. The conclusion: \u201899% of dependents would admit they want to be part of our world, not stuck with their own.\u2019<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018If you found one of these in your child\u2019s pocket, would you know what it was?\u2019 the Observer asked on 21 October 1973, introducing its guide to that year\u2019s drugs scene, over a picture of a joint and a foil square of heroin. The dossier investigated ho…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[934,586,194],"tags":[8493,10548,3472,10553,10315,3402],"class_list":["post-146087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-economy","category-news-chinese-law","tag-britain","tag-cannabis","tag-chinese","tag-marijuana","tag-media-intelligence","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146088,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146087\/revisions\/146088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}