Crack cocaine is widely viewed as a drug that creates unmanageable cravings. Compulsive patterns of use can be associated with drug and sexual risk-taking, crime and violence.
Crack cocaine has proved a challenge for users and drug services alike, with some questioning whether self-control and harm reduction are really possible.
This course teaches practical harm-reduction and self-control strategies for use with crack cocaine users, set within a review of the history of crack cocaine, the drugs evolving profile from the ghetto to the go-getter and a critical exploration of the drug’s passage to the market, rituals and psychopharmacology.
Learning Objectives
To raise awareness of the history and social context of crack cocaine
To increase knowledge of crack cocaine’s properties, effects, methods of production and use
To identify ways of reducing the health and social risks associated with crack cocaine
To explore theoretical models of self-control within the context of crack cocaine
To consider models for engaging, assessing and managing crack cocaine users in a service setting