Heroin is a worldwide scourge and a seemingly intractable one. The Life of the Heroin User: Typical Beginnings, Trajectories and Outcomes is the first book to apply a biographical approach to the lifecycle of the heroin user from birth until death. Chapters address each stage of the user's life, including childhood, routes to use, the development of dependence, problems arising from addiction, death and options for treatment and prevention. Drawing on over two decades of experience in the field of opiate research, Shane Darke examines major theoretical approaches to the development of opiate dependence and the efficacy of treatment options for opiate dependence. Key points are presented at the end of each chapter. The most detailed review available of what is likely to happen to the dependent heroin user, this is an important book for clinicians, researchers and students in the fields of drug and alcohol studies and public health.

Over the past 40 years the rate of illicit drug use worldwide has risen dramatically, and with it the number of deaths reported among drug-using populations. What are the clinical, ethical and psychopathological implications of these deaths? In this book, Shane Darke and his team provide the first full, synthetic review of the epidemiology, causes, prevalence, demography, and associated risk factors of illicit-drug-related mortality. In addition, they examine and evaluate interventions to reduce these deaths. The major causes of death among illicit drug users are overdose, disease, suicide and trauma. Each is independently examined. This is an important book for all clinicians and policy makers involved in issues relating to illicit drug use.

Over the past 40 years the rate of illicit drug use worldwide has risen dramatically, and with it the number of deaths reported among drug-using populations. What are the clinical, ethical and psychopathological implications of these deaths? In this book, Shane Darke and his team provide the first full, synthetic review of the epidemiology, causes, prevalence, demography, and associated risk factors of illicit-drug-related mortality. In addition, they examine and evaluate interventions to reduce these deaths. The major causes of death among illicit drug users are overdose, disease, suicide and trauma. Each is independently examined. This is an important book for all clinicians and policy makers involved in issues relating to illicit drug use.