This book aligns theory with practice. It has been written by a drug counsellor but has also been informed by the contributions of drug users, ex-users, their partners and families. It is comprehensive in its coverage of drug, their effects, methods of usage, the drugs sub-culture, and personal and social attitudes to drugs. Providing as step-step guide to counselling which is fundamentally based on realism and what can be achieved, it never loses sight of its first premise that it is the drugs user who must decide for him or herself if, when and how to come off drugs.